Break Free The Night (Book 1) (17 page)

             
“
Yeah right
,”
Emma snorted, jumping up to sit on the counter next to Kaylee
.“
Yo
u’
re probably just being sensitive. Andre
w’
s never angry with you. Remember that time you lost his doll
?
”

              Kaylee felt a weak smile overtake her features. She did remember that, though she had
n’
t really lost it and it was
n’
t actually a doll.

             
“
You mean that action figure he got for Christmas
,”
Kaylee corrected, her eyes trained on a green and brown stripe plate she was wiping dry
.“
Yeah, I remember. We were seven
.
”

             
And tha
t’
s just it,
Kaylee thought.
We were seven. And this is more serious than his asking for a stupid piece of plastic back.

             
“
Well, he was
n’
t pissed at you then
,”
Emma continued, shrugging her shoulders carelessly and oblivious to the shift in Kayle
e’
s mood
.“
And I remember him looking like he might
cr
y
—”

             
“
I
t’
s not the same Em
,”
Kaylee interrupted, hanging the used dishrag on a hook over the sink and stacking the dry service set. The plates landed clumsily over one another, some settling into mismatched grooves, others tilting as though they were trying to shun the less deserving pieces. Emma sat watching Kaylee, frowning.

             
“
So, wh
y’
s he angry then
?”
Emma asked, the same tone of obvious dismissal in her voice.

             
“
He wants me to be with him
,”
Kaylee said tentatively, keeping her eyes to the teetering stack of chipped plates she was putting away.

             
“
Be with him? How could you not? W
e’
re pretty much stuck here, I mean, where the hell else are you going to go
?
”

             
“
No, Em.
Be
with him. As in: us, together. A couple
,”
Kaylee continued, waving her hand in a circle as she rambled on.

              How many ways are there to say it?

              She kept her eyes in the cabinet, past the plates and to the splits in the wood sides, tracing their grain and noting the dust that was gathering in the crevices. She refused to look back at Emma and see her smirking grin, refused to let her make light of the situation. But Emma surprised her.

             
“
Oh
,”
she said in a small voice. Kaylee turned and watched her blank features, noticing her working to swallow
.“
I thought there was time. I thought we w
e’
re talking eventually. Wha
t’
s the hurry
?
”

              Kaylee sighed, grateful to her sister for sharing her hesitation
.“
I do
n’
t know
.
”

             
“
I mean, ther
e’
s not much you could do about it here anyway
,”
Emma continued in a rush, her eyes cast to her interlocked hands
.“
I mean, where would you stay? Our room? Would I get kicked out? What if you got pregnant
?
”

              Kaylee felt her breath leave in a whoosh.
Pregnant?

             
“
No, Em, I do
n’
t think he means all that
,”
she hurried to correct, feeling her face heat in protest of her siste
r’
s assumptions
.“
Not, not
that
.
”

             
“
Oh
.”
Her voice was small again, her eyes now darting from her hands to the floor but refusing to meet Kayle
e’
s
.“
Sorry, I just though
t
…”

             
“
I
t’
s okay
,”
Kaylee answered as she trailed off. An awkward silence followed. Kaylee swallowed heavily and lift an unsteady stack of drying bowls, moving further from Emma to put them away.

             
“
So you told him no
?”
Emma asked, her voice still hesitant and quiet.

             
“
Not exactly
,”
Kaylee answered, shoving the bowls in their place and gesturing at Emma start handing her the clean mugs
.“
He keeps trying to erm
,”
Kaylee paused to clear her throat
,“
kiss me and
I
—”

             
“
He does
?”
Emma asked in a flash, her head whipping up to watch Kaylee. The small stack of cups in her hand shook and Kaylee rushed to grab them before the floor could
.“
When
?
”

             
“
Only a couple of times
,”
Kaylee answered carefully. She knew a blush was spreading rapidly over her cheeks and she turned from Emma to hide it. The mugs clanked noisily together as Kaylee separated them to place them on the shelf.

             
“
I did
n’
t know
,”
Emma said, sounding almost as lost as Kaylee felt. Kaylee bit her lip and nodded, turning back to Emma and leaning against the counter. She folded her arms across her chest and let her head fall just a bit forward, counting the individual nicks in the wood of the floor as she waited for Emma to say something.

              But Emma did
n’
t get the chance to say anything more because heavy footfalls were heard echoing in the garage just moments later. The sound of Ann
a’
s ringing laughter drifted up from below and Kaylee dodged past the threadbare sofa in the living room to lower the rope ladder for them. Anna was the first to climb up, her backpack bulging, a hatchet slung from one of the straps. She let out a breath as she reached the top.

             
“
Someday
,”
she breathed
,“
I really am going to get too old for this
.
”

             
“
Good run
?”
Emma asked, leaning against the doorframe that separated the living room from the kitchen. Kaylee noticed her voice was
n’
t nearly as bright as it normally was.

             
“
Yeah, not bad
,”
Anna nodded, pulling her hatchet free and tossing it on the low shelf in the corner. She moved out of Kayle
e’
s way, throwing herself on the sofa
.“
I brought you back a few things
,”
she said over her shoulder to Emma, winking.

             
“
Girls? Throw down the rope
!”
Bill shouted. Kaylee hurried around the opening to lower the thick rope with a hook fastened on the end. Excitement surged when a series of thuds sounded followed by a muffled curse. There was only one thing on earth that could reverberate with that dull, resonating clank as it connected with concrete floor. Cans.

             
“
No way
!”
Emma exclaimed, rushing over and knocking into Kaylee as she heard the echoing clatter the tin cans made as they fell from Bil
l’
s arms and scattered over the garage floor. She braved even her hatred of the living room to catch a glimpse of the raid. Some had lost their labels, the light reflecting off their rippled exterior. Others had labels that were smudged with dust and grime, the dirt nearly obscuring the names, some with rips and rotting holes eating away at the advertisements. But the color gave those away: red and white of Campbel
l’
s soups, green for Delmonte, yellow rings of healthy pineapple on backgrounds of light blue for Dole. Kayle
e’
s mouth watered.

              Canned food had been some of the first supplies to dry out. Which was ironic because really, canned food would have been the easiest to kee
p–
designed to last for years and years. But scavengers had, the only instance in Kayle
e’
s opinion, used their brains when raiding for food. It still shocked Kaylee what people had broken into stores to steal: plasma TVs, radios, computers, MP3 players. What good were they? Did people not realize that electricity would fail? But this level if idiocy had not applied to food. Canned food, freeze dried meals, nuts, trail mix, jerky, all the food that would have kept had been taken. It had been a real challenge for Kaylee and Emma to diversify the meals they made.

             
“
Is that soda
?”
Emma asked, leaning so far out the opening in her excitement that Kaylee grabbed her belt just to be safe. Jack grinned up at them, a large flat of aluminum cans in his hands. There were
n’
t any labels to fall off these, just shiny symbols printed right on the sides: Pepsi, Coke, Sprite. Kaylee could already feel the fizz and burn of the carbonation as it slid down her throat. A smile fell into place.

             
“
You have to check the landing docks
,”
Jack said, setting the case by Bil
l’
s feet
.“
And the trucks, not everything was left on the shelves
.”
Andrew was swinging up the rope ladder now, his lips twisting in irritation as Jack spoke. Kaylee offered him a weak smile. He rolled his eyes and smiled back.

              Tha
t’
s new.

              Andrew had been so very careful to ignore Kaylee these past few days, brushing past her in the halls, keeping his eyes on his food in the kitchen. She had
n’
t even noticed him when she went to the cornfield with Emma. She felt odd and hollow not feeling his eyes follow her through the chain-link fence.

             
“
I have something for you
,”
he whispered as he landed on the floor next to her. Her eyebrows quirked in curiosity and he grinned
.“
Meet me here after we get this stuff into storage
?
”

              Kaylee nodded, watching him as he got to the feet and tugged at the rope. His muscles strained as he hauled a good month
s’
worth of food up from the garage. His vision was in danger of being obscured completely by his fringe and from where she sat perched, Kaylee could clearly see the tracks sweat had made down his neck as he scavenged for food that night. His jaw set as he heaved one last time before the net filled with dented cans swung into view and Kaylee started as she realized that he really was very good looking.

             
“
Get up lazy
,”
Emma growled, a well placed kick to Kayle
e’
s side making her grunt
.“
Le
t’
s get this all put away
.
”