Apokalypsis | Book 6 | Apokalypsis 6 Morris, Kate (cheapest way to read ebooks TXT) 📖

“Yes, Mrs. Goddard’s. And Roman said we should go to our one friend’s house, Terry’s. He had a lot of horses and ATVs.”

“And Wren wants to go back to her old house, something about leaving some things behind?” he asked the girl.

“Er, yeah,” she answered uncomfortably.

“Maybe you four could head that way tomorrow, and I’ll take Gyles and a few more to look for chickens or anything else we need. We have the gas to make the trip, and it seems like we’d better get any hay and grain we can for our combined animals. As a matter of fact, I think we should all learn to ride the horses if for no other reason than saving gas going to each other’s places. No sense driving a few miles back and forth constantly. That just uses gas.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Avery remarked and watched Wren’s face fall at the prospect for some odd reason. She didn’t seem to like any of their plans that involved the future. Roman and Elijah both agreed with more enthusiasm.

Tristan just continued, though, “Figure on staying somewhere for the night in the city. It might not be a great idea to try and come all the way back in case you run into trouble. Remember, those things aren’t the only danger out there. I’m sure it’ll be dark by the time you guys get done loading hay and looking for supplies. Plus, you’ll have to go slower pulling a trailer.”

“Yes, sir,” Roman agreed. “We have some options in that way, staying out for a night. We’ll figure it out.”

“Tristan, what about the girls?” Avery asked.

He sighed, “Right, the girls. I don’t think we should let Bianca leave, especially since she has no way of knowing if her mother made it to wherever they were going. I talked to her earlier, and she can’t even remember the place they lured her and her mother. Without at least a place to start looking up north, then how the hell would we track where they were going? Columbus or somewhere? That’s a very big city and a good three-hour drive from here, definitely in these weather and road conditions.”

“Oh, dear. That is far,” Avery agreed.

“I’m going to do what I can, but I don’t think she should leave. I mean, chances are, and this doesn’t leave this room, her mom is likely dead. They probably killed her in the struggle or did it to get rid of her so they could just focus on taking the girl. She would’ve just been a liability. If, on the slim chance, she’s still alive, reuniting people like this is going to be very difficult right now. We’ll try to find a CB radio, or I’ll go out to the base and grab that HAM radio out there. Maybe we could get the word out over a radio that this girl is looking for her family. I checked earlier on the television for her name and again on the FEMA website. Nothing. Her mom’s not listed as a dead person or a displaced one at a camp. The other ones are orphans now, so I think we need to make sure they’re safe. After what they’ve been through, a little normalcy is what they deserve. They can stay as long as they like.”

“Hey, man,” Alex spoke up, “we’ve got plenty of room at our place, too. There’s a whole extra bedroom upstairs nobody’s using. Full-size bed they could use.”

“Thanks, I appreciate the offer,” Tristan stated and looked at her.

Avery took his cue and said, “I think they should stay with us for now.”

“Ave’s gonna try to help them.”

“I’m not a psychiatrist like my mother, but I do want to help. I’m not sure it’ll do any good, but I just thought if maybe they could be around my family and try to find a bit of comfort in being in that sort of environment, a place where they feel safe, it might help.”

“That would be wonderful, Avery,” Renee commented and rubbed her back. “We’ll all try to be as accommodating as we can. I can’t even imagine what they’ve been through.”

“And that poor sick one,” Gyles said, shaking his head. “Just awful. Makes you wonder what’s wrong with people that they’d do something like that to young girls?”

“Some people just have pure evil in them,” Wren said, staring out the window. “It’s simple. They just have no good left, no good left at all, just evil.”

Elijah laid his hand on her shoulder, which she stepped out from under.

“Well, we’re going to eradicate them,” Tristan said boldly.

Spencer sent him a single nod. Gyles seemed slightly less enthusiastic but also nodded.

“Tristan’s right. Keeping our families and friends safe is the most important thing we can do now,” Gyles told them. “Nothing else matters but our survival. We all have to look out for one another. Nobody, and I mean nobody, should go anywhere alone, even if it’s only to gather some firewood or check on livestock. If it’s more than ten feet off your front porch, take a buddy. We don’t know enough about the enemy out there yet to become so comfortable in our security.”

Spencer said, “True. We need to know a lot more about the crawlers, like where the hell they go all day other than the random barn to hibernate. But I do think safety has to be our number one concern.”

After a moment of silence as everyone thought about this, Tristan stood up from his chair at the table and said, “Agreed. The only way we’re getting through this thing is together. There’s no splitting off, leaving, going it alone. We have to stick together. I know most of you are pretty young, just kids really, but you’re the adults now. You’ve officially graduated into adulthood thanks to this pandemic. Congratulations. I know a lot of you have lost people and are in mourning, but stop. There will be time for that