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

too,” Roman chirped up, crossing his arms over his chest and staring daggers at Jane, who shrank down into her chair lower. There was some definite strain between members of their group.

“Sure,” Spencer said, oblivious to the tensions flying around the room. “That’d work. It would lighten the crowding situation at the houses, too.”

“Great,” Roman sneered. “Can’t wait to tell him when we get back home.”

At this, Tristan’s brows snapped together with puzzlement, but he continued on, “I’d like one more person to be there just in case. That man could be with a group somewhere. Maybe another neighborhood, maybe just camped out in the woods. Who knows?”

“Bianca?” Avery suggested. When everyone looked at her, she explained, “She’s been restless lately. I know she really wants to go look for her mother. Maybe helping out more, doing farm chores over there, might give her a purpose for a while.”

“Maybe,” Tristan said. “I’ve only taken her out to shoot once. I don’t know if she’s ready for that much if it comes to that.”

“My walkie-talkie range reaches Gyles’s place,” Alex said. “If we have trouble, I’ll call him on that, and he can use the CB to reach you guys.”

“Sounds like a good plan,” Spencer said. He was always faster to find the bright spot in a situation than Tristan, who seemed more stoic and worrisome. Of course, he had a lot more at stake taking care of Avery and her siblings.

“I’ll talk to her in the morning,” Avery stated.

The meeting wrapped up, and everyone headed back to their own homes right as the sun was setting. Avery had sent them with boxes of chocolates she and Renee made earlier in the day. She explained that the baking chocolate would just go bad eventually anyway. Wren was thankful. She loved chocolate.

“Well, guess I better go pack up,” Alex stated as soon as they were inside. “Gotta pick up Crack Barbie, so…”

“Maybe you ought to lay off the insults,” Elijah advised. “You’re going to be living under the same roof. Might end up having an accident.” He said this with air quotes, to which they both laughed.

The Miller kids did what they did most nights as soon as the sun was set- headed up to their shared bedroom. They weren’t particularly sociable, but Wren figured they were just shy, probably very sad, and didn’t want to make small talk just yet. They had agreed to give them their space. Besides, she could hear them talking sometimes through the walls upstairs. Sometimes, she also heard crying. Space was definitely needed.

“Want to help me tear up that box of chocolates?” she asked Elijah a few hours later after his brother left for Roman’s place to get the others.

“When do I ever turn down food?” he asked with a silly grin.

“Good point,” she agreed.

“Let me check the house and add wood to the burner.”

“Meet you upstairs.”

She grabbed the box as he double-checked the doors and windows on the first floor again. It would feel odd not having Alex in the house for a while. Hopefully, as much as she disliked his brother most of the time, he’d be back soon if they caught the attacker of Jane’s mother. Alex was abrasive, rude sometimes, and generally a dark and moody person, but he was a good fighter and protector.

When Elijah appeared fifteen minutes later in the doorway, he was carrying a newly-acquired oil lamp and two cans of cold, orange-flavored soda. It was also a new find. Abraham led a small group to pillage empty homes the other day, and they’d returned with a pickup truck bed full. A lot of it, he explained, had come from the same home. That’s what they were finding, that most of the homes in their county were empty, more emptying out every week. Whether the former inhabitants were dead, infected and just gone, or had fled, none of them knew for certain.

“Let’s rot our teeth,” he joked and set the cans on the small desk where she was seated.

“Hey, um, I wondered if you wanted to look at something with me.”

“Sure. Did you injure yourself?”

“What? No,” she said confusedly. “No, I’m fine. I mean something I found in my box from Jamie.”

“Oh, sure,” he said and leaned against the desk. “Not quite as fun as exploring your body for injuries but…”

She smacked his thick thigh but smiled. Lately, things weren’t as bad as before. Every day that passed felt more like a gift than a task she had to get through as it had been immediately following Jamie’s death. She found that if she just tried to squash those memories temporarily it would be easier to get through this. Someday she’d have time to dwell on her beloved Jamie. That day wasn’t coming anytime soon.

Wren took her laptop to the lower bunk and scooted in reverse on her rear until her back was against the wall. Elijah brought their looted snacks and followed her.

“What is it? Something on your computer?” he asked.

“Um, sort of,” she said and pulled the drawer open on their nightstand and took out the box. After placing it gently on the bed beside her leg, she opened it, took a deep breath, and pulled out that fateful manilla envelope. Inside, she dug around and found one of the many flash drives and held it up for Elijah to see.

“Oh! What’s on there?”

Wren shrugged. Then she took out a piece of chocolate and munched tiny nibbles as she contemplated. “I don’t know. I’m nervous to look at it. Bloody scared shitless, actually.”

Elijah snagged a piece of the delicious chocolates, too, one with nuts, and stuffed the whole thing in his mouth.

“If you don’t savor, you don’t get more,” she warned, to which he grinned.

“As if you could stop me,” he said and flexed a bicep. It was huge. She tried not to stare.

Instead, Wren simply raised an eyebrow in challenge and got a laugh in return.

Elijah realized she needed a moment to pause and opened their