Total pages in book: 163
Estimated words: 150878 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 754(@200wpm)___ 604(@250wpm)___ 503(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 150878 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 754(@200wpm)___ 604(@250wpm)___ 503(@300wpm)
“Yes, it was fortunate in this case that Charlie is recognizable and considered safe. They’re perfectly justified in driving right past anyone trying to get them to stop,” I told her. “Not everyone on the road is going to be well-meaning. We’ve only gotten a small taste of it.”
“More Leonards and fake Amish?”
“Yes. But mostly it’s wise to remember that the worst sides of people come out when they get scared and desperate. People who might not be predators under normal circumstances will do really fucked up things to survive.”
She seemed to deflate a little. My eyes lingered on her. If she’d been bothered that Charlie’s stardom outshined hers with the two men in the front of the truck, she hadn’t shown it. I allowed my gaze to run over her now as she focused on the road ahead. Since we’d left the Goodfellows’ home, she’d been wearing jeans and a thick, quilted jacket over a flannel shirt and a pair of boots. The whole ensemble was warm and practical and made her look vaguely ridiculous and kind of sexy too. A few days ago, I would have blamed that unwanted—and inconvenient—reaction on the fact that I hadn’t had sex in over six years. But now… I could admit that it wasn’t just that Emily was beautiful, it was that she was fiery and spirited too and that was the quality—above all else—that had always drawn me to her and still did.
Her hair was braided this morning, loose strands framing her face. She raised her hand to scratch her cheek and I saw that the talons she’d had at the start of the journey were now mostly gone. Then Charlie sighed in his sleep and moved his head more snugly into the crook of her neck and I felt an unwelcome zap of jealousy. Ever since Em and I had worked together getting the horses under control, I couldn’t help thinking of her as more of a partner than an old friend I was doing a favor for. But Charlie kept reminding me exactly why that was ridiculous and foolhardy.
I looked away, off in the direction we were heading. That feeling of partnership had been brought on by the high emotions of what we’d experienced together—and the thrill of victory. It would wear off sooner rather than later and I could go back to—happily—being annoyed by her.
Next to her, Charlie stirred, blinked, and sat up. He bent his neck one way and then the other. “Are we there yet?”
The truck pulled over to the side of the road several hours later and we climbed down from its bed. Emilio leaned out the window and said, “This is our turnoff. You’ll probably want to stick to this road.” He extended a piece of paper and a pen. “Do you mind autographing this?” he asked Charlie. “No one’s ever going to believe we gave a movie star a ride.”
Charlie seemed all too delighted, signing with a flourish and then handing the pen and paper back over. We thanked them again and Charlie waved as they drove away, standing there even after their car had disappeared from view.
“You’re welcome,” Charlie said to me and Emily when he turned our way.
I resisted an eye roll, deciding to give Charlie his moment instead.
“My feet thank you kindly,” Emily offered.
Charlie smiled. “So… Kansas,” he said, looking around. “It really does exist.”
Emily laughed. “Did you think it didn’t?”
“Have you ever heard of anything that came out of Kansas?”
Emily chewed at her lip for a moment. “The Wizard of Oz,” she finally said.
Charlie grinned and I turned up the road to get a visual of what was ahead.
I could see the distant skyline of Topeka, smoke rising in the air from various points. There’d been fires here too. And likely more death than I wanted to think about as large groups of people in a small area of land fought over limited resources. I also noticed several clusters of people walking on the edge of the highway, away from the city. I’d have preferred Emilio and Wells drop us off near more wilderness, but beggars couldn’t be choosers and I also didn’t want to end up lost somewhere.
On the bright side, civilization did mean more chances to find food that didn’t have to be hunted and skinned and honestly, another cereal truck would be fucking fantastic.
“A highway,” Emily said as she joined me. “Is that bad?”
“It’s not ideal, but we might be able to score some snacks again from a broken-down car. And we can use one of them to sleep in again. It’s going to be dark soon enough and there’s nowhere around here I might hunt.”
Until I could find a map, being in a location with signs was important even if populated areas worried me and I’d have to be much more vigilant about being ambushed while we slept.