EMP Catastrophe | Book 1 | Erupting Trouble Hamilton, Grace (read book .txt) 📖

“Or is your heart too weak?” The gun wavered for a moment, and Matthew shoved his way around her so he stood between his father and the gun barrel, terrified that at any moment, he might hear that deafening ring again, see two marks appear on his own chest, and topple over dead.

What if he charged her, pushed her over, tried to get the gun out of her hands? What if they scrambled for ownership of it? What if she grabbed it again? She wouldn’t hesitate to shoot him. Or David. What would Kathleen think then? A brother in prison, a husband murdered in cold blood over Tootsie Rolls and Doritos.

David hefted the bag over his shoulder, and Matthew did the same. The weight of drinks and junk food felt like bricks on his back. David’s breathing had turned into a wheeze. Matthew put a hand on his dad’s arm to steady him and reassure his father that he was there. “You don’t have to do this,” Matthew said to Jade. “We can go our separate ways. Peacefully. You can take everything we own. Just don’t hurt us.”

“You’re just like everyone else I’ve ever met,” Jade snarled as they left the store. “Underwhelming.”

David gasped and leaned into Matthew as Jade ordered them to walk. Matthew broke the plastic seal on the medicine bottle and shook a white aspirin tablet out. With shaking hands, David downed the pill without water. Jade stood behind them. When Matthew looked over his shoulder, he saw the black circle of the gun barrel looking at him like an eye, the twin green pools of Jade’s fury staring at him. “I won’t be left behind,” she snarled.

Matthew grabbed David’s arm and somehow, they began the walk back towards the interstate, the heavy sound of David’s breathing transforming to a labored pant as they reached the top.

21

David’s heavy breathing fell into a familiar rhythm for Matthew as the sun set crept down towards the horizon and dusk began to race across the sky. Panic felt like a concrete block weighing Matthew down as he kept close to David, using his body as source of shelter and strength as Jade set a grueling pace down the highway. He didn’t know if Jade planned to herd them towards Galena, or if she had other plans in mind. What would he do if Jade pressed the gun to the back of his head and demanded they turn down another exit and head in a different direction? He’d fight her, but she already knew his weaknesses. She’d move that gun barrel to David, and Matthew would do whatever she asked. Ahead of him, the sky turned a little bit darker. David breathed a little bit heavier.

He already knew, deep down, that he’d never be able to shoot her.

“Walk faster,” Jade snapped from behind them. “I don’t want the sun to set on us out here.”

Matthew glanced over his shoulder at her. The gun sat clenched in her hand, which was at her side. “We can’t walk all the way to Galena in an hour,” he said.

“We could get a lot farther if you’d pick up the pace,” Jade said. The hand holding the gun jittered and bounced against her thigh. “Do you need an enticement? I know you’re a man of many words, Matt, but I bet you wouldn’t have much to say to this gun.”

Matthew bit his lip and faced forward, his anger boiling just under the surface. His jaw ached from grinding his teeth in stress. He decided to try a new tactic. “My father needs to rest.”

“We rested at the clinic.”

“Over an hour ago!”

“Then it’s the law of the jungle, isn’t it? Eat or be eaten. You know what I’ve learned from this? Nothing works out here, and everyone I meet betrays me in the end.”

“We didn’t betray you. We felt unsafe in your company. We aren’t wrong.”

“Shut up,” Jade snarled. “Shut your trap.” The gun bounced against her leg in soft thumps. Matthew hoped the safety was on. A million thoughts filled his mind about what they should do and how they should escape, but he couldn’t strain his father’s energy by putting them in danger. It was better to wait and see what Jade had planned before doing something reckless that might end up with one or both of them shot.

The sun became a half circle against the horizon, illuminating clouds in red and gold. David’s steps had become sluggish, tripping more often than not against the flat road. He gripped Matthew’s hand, as if trying to transfer the pain in his chest to Matthew. Matthew wished he could take the burden from his father, hoist both packs over his back, but Jade had stopped him from doing something like that earlier. Matthew was at the verge of demanding to sit and was considering stopping and refusing to move as his hostage-given rights, when Jade called out, “We can stop up there, near that exit.”

The sun had completely disappeared by the time they made it to the exit sign. David collapsed on the curb. Fatigue grayed his face. Sweat ran down his temples. Jade climbed on top of a stalled SUV and perched on the hood. Sitting cross-legged, she unwrapped a power bar and munched on it, watching them like a hawk from on high. Matthew coaxed water down David’s throat, handing him bits of power bar, and knew that if David were in his right mind, he’d admonish Matthew for treating him like a child.

With the sun gone, the quick drop in temperature made Matthew shiver. Soon, Matthew plumped up their packs as pillows and lay down close to his father, the body heat meager between them. Luckily it was spring, Matthew thought. Lucky for them it wasn’t the dead of winter. David’s back was turned to Jade, and Matthew saw her adjust on top of the car until she could lie down, her eyes glimmering in the moonlight. The gun shone silver in