Crashing Down - A Post-Apocalyptic Novel (The Ravaged Land Series Book 3) (13 page)

A
fter we filled
up the back of his pickup truck with empty jugs of all shapes and sizes per his instruction, we climbed into the cab with him. Dominick started the truck and drove us out of the camp and away from Dean and Penn.

He waved at his men as they closed the gate behind us. His men had somewhat repaired the fence. It looked like it had been a quick fix and that it wasn’t secure in the least.

The broken segments of wood that they were able to salvage were put back together like a puzzle and nailed to the fence pieces that were still standing. There were pumpkin-sized holes and random missing pieces. It was practically useless. I could probably push it down myself, or maybe crawl underneath.

Dominick’s men were going about their business as usual. As if nothing had happened. They just followed their rules and procedures no matter how much danger they were potentially in.

I watched the scenery pass by and tried to ignore the tension between Dominick and I. He probably felt it too, but he didn’t make any effort to diffuse it. It was probably so strong Sienna could feel it too. I just didn’t understand Dominick, his views or his ways.

“Where are we going?” I asked trying to keep my tone casual. But Dominick would probably see right through it.

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” he said chuckling. He didn’t take his eyes off of the road. It almost seemed as though he didn’t even want to be here. That made three of us.

I laughed and hoped it didn’t sound as fake to him as it had to me. Then again, I wasn’t sure if I cared. He already knew, or at least he should have, how I felt about him. We would always and forever clash. I had no desire to be his friend or ally. All that was really important was that he didn’t kill me or one of my friends.

“We are just going to go fill up these jugs at a nearby stream.”

“Oh.”

“You have to do this a lot?” Sienna asked, and I figured she was wondering how much water they went through with all the people in the camp. Although now they’d need much less.

“Yes we do,” Dominick said as he turned the truck down a bumpy dirt road. The jugs in the back of the truck bounced and crashed into each other but he drove on. He must have done this same thing at least a thousand times if not more.

When we got to a patch of grass at the end of the road he kept driving even though there wasn’t a road. There were tire tracks worn down through the grass and weeds that led us to a muddy bank. He stopped the truck, and I saw the glittery stream that weaved its way through the grasses and dead trees.

The water looked so clear that it sparkled even though the sky was overcast. It looked as though the water was magical, but maybe when you were fighting to live another day, water always looked magical.

He parked and walked around towards the back of the truck. When we didn’t follow fast enough he pounded his fist against the side of the truck. I saw him wildly gesturing for us to get out in the rear-view mirror.

Sienna took a good look around before she opened her door. She sighed as she lowered her feet to the ground.

“Take the jugs and fill them in the stream. Then simply put them back on the truck,” he said as he started to climb up into the bed of the truck.

Sienna looked at me and then towards Dominick with a raised eyebrow. She reached over the back and grabbed one of the jugs. “You aren’t going to help?” she asked not bothering to hide how annoyed she was.

“Nope! I’m going to keep watch while you guys work. I’ll be the one to make sure you are safe,” he said as he climbed up onto the roof of the cab and sat down. It was almost as if he was trying to make his job sound way harder than it was. Although it was good to have someone keep watch, it would have made more sense to rotate so we could take a break.

I groaned and grabbed a jug. Sienna and I started to fill them one by one by the stream. I could feel Dominick’s eyes on me but I didn’t want to look at him to confirm it. He was supposed to be keeping an eye on our surroundings, not on us.

“Oh, here,” he said tossing something at me. I caught it even though he threw it before I was ready. It was a bottle with a squeeze dropper.

“What’s this for?”

“An iodine tincture… we are running low so make it last,” he said as I tried to read the faded label.

“What do I do with it?”

He groaned as if I should know, “Put some drops in each jug… to purify the water.”

“Oh,” I said realizing they didn’t boil their water. They used these drops to make their water safer to drink.

I put a few drops in one of the smaller jugs and looked at him to see if I was doing what he wanted. He nodded and I hoisted the small jug back into the bed of the truck. Dominick smiled at me, but then he squinted his eyes, “So are you and what’s-his-face a couple then?”

“Dean? Yeah, I guess so…,” I said even though none of this was any of his business.

“You guess?” he said glancing towards the horizon as if he remembered he was supposed to be keeping watch.

“Well
I
know, but I don’t know why
you
need to know,” I said worried I might be crossing those lines. The ones I shouldn’t cross. Especially when we were separated from Dean and Penn.

“I need to know everything that is going on in my camp,” he said with a straight face. I didn’t know if I should laugh or roll my eyes. “When do you guys find the time to… you know?”

“Are you serious? That is none of your business!” I said grabbing another jug and stomping back to the stream. I could hear him laughing. Sienna saw me and I knew my face was bright red. I was pretty sure she hadn’t heard what he had said to me and hopefully she wouldn’t ask about it.

After a few minutes when Sienna hadn’t come back with a jug, I knew he was talking to her. I couldn’t hear what he was saying, but that only made me look in her direction frequently. Just in case she might need me to come to her aid. But she seemed as if she was managing Dominick just fine.

The sooner we got this job done the sooner we could get back to Dean and Penn. I only wished the bottles would fill faster.

“No!” Sienna shouted, and I heard her coming towards the stream. She practically threw her bottle in the stream but grabbed it before it floated away. Dominick would have probably blown a gasket if we lost a bottle. “Ugh! I hate that guy.”

“So do I,” I said, but she already knew that. For some reason Dominick was just trying to bother us. For his own amusement. He was intentionally trying to make us uncomfortable. I didn’t know what his endgame was, but I wasn’t going to let it work.

Sienna and I hauled our full jugs back to the truck together. I hoped that if we were together he’d be less likely to try to bother us. We were working as fast as we could because we were both ready to be done with Dominick.

“You guys are the slowest… why did I ask you two for this job again?” Dominick said crossing his arms and looking up towards the sky.

“I’ve been wondering the same thing,” I muttered.

“What’d you say sweetie?” he said putting his hand up by his ear.

“Nothing,” I sang out with a tight-lipped smile as I followed Sienna back to the stream. There had been maybe twelve jugs left. He wouldn’t bother us like this back at the camp. Soon it would be over. At least until the next time, but hopefully there wouldn’t be a next time. Then again, maybe this was only the beginning of how things were going to be from now on.

Once we were finished filling the jugs, Dominick hopped down off the top of the truck. “That took you guys long enough,” he said wearing his horrible smirk. The one that I had actually slapped off of his face. My lips curled upward at the memory. I could only dream about smacking it off his face again because I couldn’t actually do it. If I ever tried it again I knew he definitely wouldn’t let it slide.

“If all three of us had been working it probably would have taken half the time,” Sienna said with a shrug.

“One Dominick equals two of you? Is that what you are saying?” he said as he jumped down out of the bed of the truck. The trucked squeaked as it bounced from the change in weight. “Let’s go slowpokes.”

He climbed into the cab and started the truck before we were even inside. If Dean and Penn hadn’t been back at the camp waiting for us, I would have been fine with the idea of Dominick leaving us behind. But I wanted to get back to them. Being apart just didn’t feel right. It felt as though I was missing part of myself. I’m sure they were both worried, and it probably had felt like we had been gone for ages. At least it felt that way to me.

Dominick drove us back towards the camp taking the exact same route only in reverse. I was almost certain that if I ever needed to find my way back to that stream again, I could have. If we ever did get the chance to escape I knew where we could find water. Maybe then we could follow the stream until we were far, far away from Dominick and his crazy camp.

As we got closer to the camp, I saw what looked like black smoke billowing into the sky. I didn’t know exactly what I was seeing. What were they doing at the camp to cause so much black smoke? It seemed like too much.

Maybe burning the dog-beasts would cause that much smoke. Or maybe it was from the dead bodies… even still, it seemed to be far too much. It wasn’t until I saw the orange flames jutting into the sky that I knew what was happening.

“Oh my God!” Sienna cried out as Dominick slammed on the brakes. “What’s going on?” she said looking at Dominick as if she was begging him for a logical explanation as to why there was a fire at his camp. It was like she was hoping there would be a perfectly reasonable answer as to why the whole camp seemed to be going up in flames. The camp where Dean and Penn were.

Dominick ignored her. He started shouting mostly nonsense with the random curse word mixed in. His fists repeatedly slamming into the steering wheel so hard I was worried he might actually break it.

When Sienna realized that there was no explanation, and that Dominick was just as in the dark about what was happening as they were, her body started to tremble. I could tell by her sniffing and her breathing that she had started crying. But what she was forgetting was that Penn was not only smart, but he was trained for certain situations. Dean was smart too, and he was a fighter. I wasn’t ready to give up on them even though my stomach was twisted in knots. If anyone could get out of it, it would be them.

She grabbed my hand and held it tightly. I looked down at our entwined fingers and remember that she was Dean’s sister. Sienna was terrified at the thought of losing her brother more than anything else. She didn’t want him to leave her alone in this world and I couldn’t say I blamed her.

“All those people. My men!” Dominick shouted pounding his thighs. “My brother! Oh, Christ… Mack!”

“Let’s get a little closer,” I said trying to keep myself calm. Nothing good would come of all three of us freaking out. It was surprising that out of the three of us, it was me that was somehow managing to keep it together. I wanted to scream and cry. But I wasn’t doing either of those things. Then again, perhaps I was just too dehydrated to cry. “Maybe we’ll see someone. Maybe even Mack.”

Dominick nodded as if what I was saying made sense. He pulled himself halfway together and slowly drove the truck towards the camp. “You have to be kidding me,” he said, squinting at something, but then I saw them too.

The HOME army men in their red uniforms were standing in the distance looking out at the flames. Dominick turned the truck around both quickly and quietly. It was as if he was trying to make the truck invisible. And I think it worked because HOME didn’t followed us.

Dean’s words about going to Colorado echoed in my head. If they survived that’s where they’d go. But I didn’t know how long Sienna and I would be stuck with Dominick. What if he tried to take us even further away? How long would Dean and Penn wait in Colorado for us? What if Colorado wasn’t even a safe place to be?

The last thing I wanted to was to be stuck with Dominick for the rest of my life. If it came down to it, I might have to try to convince him to take us to Colorado. Or maybe Sienna and I would have to take matters into our own hands. I still had my gun. He’d have to sleep sometime. But hopefully it wouldn’t come down to any of that.

Dominick sped up the truck once it seemed like HOME wouldn’t hear the rumble of the engine or catch up to us. They seemed pretty distracted watching the camp burn down to the ground.

One thing was for sure, HOME was actively seeking out the resistance and apparently attempting to eliminate them. They had most certainly won that round.

“What’s that?” Sienna said pointing out between the trees. There was movement.

“
W
hat is it
?” Dominick asked as he squinted out of the window while trying to keep the truck on the road at the same time. He’d look back at the road to straighten the truck and then turn again towards the movement inside the trees.

It seemed like they were following us. Were they waving at us? I wasn’t sure, but whatever, or rather whoever it was, didn’t look like they were from HOME. If they were, they probably would have been shooting at us.

“It’s Dez!” Dominick said as he hit the window with his palm and jerked the truck to a stop. His excitement quickly faded, “Where’s Mack?”

“Oh my…,” I said, my voice shaking when I saw them. I couldn’t believe it. My hands were on my face, and my eyes were filling with tears. Dean and Penn were both following behind Dezzie through the trees. They both looked fine. Nothing had happened to them.

I heard Sienna suck in air and sniff, so I was sure she had seen them too. She put her head down against my shoulder. I blinked several times as if I wanted to make sure it was really them. Dominick slowed the truck and all three of them looked relieved. Once they got closer their expressions changed into one that looked both upset and anxious. We weren’t safe. The HOME army was still too close.

“Where’s Mack?” Dominick said looking at Dezzie. I could tell by his voice he was already expecting to hear bad news. Dezzie looked down at the ground and shook his head. I wasn’t sure if that meant he knew Mack was gone or if it just meant that he hadn’t known what happened to him.

Dominick shifted the truck into drive and I was instantly worried that he was going to totally freak out while driving. I thought he was going to just drive off leaving Dezzie, Penn and Dean behind as a way to punish everyone for what had maybe happened to Mack.

But he didn’t drive off leaving them behind. The second the three of them were in the back of the truck Dominick drove away, leaving the burning camp behind.

The time on the radio clock was most certainly wrong, but more than an hour had gone by before Dominick pulled the truck over. He slammed it into park and got out without saying anything. Before his feet even touched the ground his gun was in his hand. He leaned forward into the side of the truck and started talking to Dezzie.

“Where is he? What happened?” Dominick said, but I didn’t bother to turn around and look at them. If I did, I would see Dean and I wouldn’t be able to concentrate on their conversation.

“I don’t know… I’m not sure if he got out. I’m sorry, Dominick. We just happened to be in the wood checking the berry patch when it all happened,” Dezzie said sounding as if he was just simply reporting the facts. There had been little emotion behind his words.

“What did you see?” Dominick asked needing more details. Not only did he want to know what happened to his brother, he also wanted to know exactly what happened to his camp.

“We saw, well more like we heard, the attack. There was so much screaming… then the gunshots, and before we knew it the whole place was engulfed in flames. No one came out. It was then we started running away. There wasn’t anything we could do. It was just the three of us against all of them. The screaming had stopped and all of the buildings were already burning,” Dezzie said still not sounding all that torn up about losing his home and their people. But it didn’t surprise me based on his background.

“So Mack could still be there?” Dominick said his voice shaky.

“He could still be alive, but he’s not there,” Dezzie said.

“How can you be sure? Maybe we should go back?” I saw Dominick put his hand on the door out of the corner of my eye. The three of them started talking at the same time sounding as if they were trying to stop him.

Dezzie’s voice was overpowering, “There is nothing there. Everyone there has been shot or burned to a crisp. Mack was a good kid. I hope he got out… I really do, Dom. In many ways he was like you… he was your brother after all. I’m sure he didn’t give up without a fight.”

“Was my brother? You’re talking as if you know what happened to him,” Dominick said, and I could tell he was getting angry. I almost felt bad that the thought of driving away and leaving him behind had crossed my mind. It would be easy to slide into the driver’s seat and just drive away. We could leave Dominick behind for good.

Of course he would have shot at the truck, maybe hitting one of us, or the tire. When I glanced over, I saw the keys were gone. Dominick must have anticipated something like that as a possibility because he had taken the keys with him.

“I have no idea if he is or not,” Dezzie said stiffening his spine, “but I don’t think it’d be wise to go back to the camp to look for him. He’ll go to the next camp. He knows how this works. If he’s alive, he’ll go there.”

Where exactly would he go? The backup resistance camp? How would Mack know which one to go to? Is that where Dominick would take us next? It felt like we’d never get away from Dominick or these overzealous resistance people.

“Maybe there could be others still alive back there…,” Dominick said as if he couldn’t comprehend the situation. I was pretty sure the only one he really cared about finding was Mack. But it seemed like he was trying to come up with any reason to go back.

“If anyone survived they did so because they left the camp. They’d be out there somewhere running away from HOME and hopefully towards Mira’s camp,” Dezzie said as I glanced back and caught him looking out at the horizon. I assumed he was looking out in the direction of this Mira person’s camp, but maybe he was just looking to make sure he didn’t see HOME charging towards us.

“Sure… sure.” Dominick pounded on the side of the pickup truck before he got back inside. He was facing forward, gripping the steering wheel at ten and two, and then he let out a huge breath of air. Dominick started the truck and once again we were off. I assumed he was heading towards their backup camp. And we were going with whether we wanted to or not.

I turned around and locked eyes with Dean. When I saw him I almost wanted to burst into tears but I managed to hold it together. The look on his face was so complex I couldn’t even begin to figure out what he was thinking. If we got the opportunity, maybe we’d be able to finally get away from Dezzie, Dominick and all things resistance camp. Now we outnumbered them. But they were more likely to shoot to kill… if it came to that.

“You know what’s weird?” Dominick said so suddenly it scared me and my body jerked. I put my hand on my heart as if that might help it slow down.

“What’s weird?” I asked hoping my fright hadn’t been noticeable.

“Dezzie was supposed to show your guys back there how to manage the storehouses. Why were they down by the berry patches?” Dominick tilted his head to the side. He brought it back upright when he noticed the truck had started to slightly veer off to the left.

“I have no idea. Maybe he finished showing them what he needed to and tried to think of something else,” I said not exactly sure what he was getting at. I couldn’t follow his train of thought.

“Probably. How lucky for them that they were gone. I wish he would have taken Mack with him,” Dominick said, his voice so sad I almost felt bad for him.

“Maybe he’s out there trying to make his way to you,” I said, but I didn’t think I believed it. And I was pretty sure that it came through in my voice too. I knew what HOME was capable of, and there wouldn’t have been anywhere to escape unless he had already been outside of the resistance’s fence. Dezzie, Dean and Penn had just gotten lucky.

“Yeah, maybe….” Dominick didn’t sound like he believed it either. “Maybe we should stop to see if we can find some food or supplies.”

“Well, at least we have tons of water,” I said trying to find a bright side, even though there really wasn’t one.

* * *

A
fter what felt like forever
, Dominick pulled up to a gas station and drove around the back as if he had been here before. He cut the engine and pulled out the keys. “Come,” he said as he disappeared from the truck.

I followed Sienna out her door and around the back to Penn and Dean. Penn jumped out over the side and hugged both Sienna and I at the same time. He put his head down between us and sucked in a long breath. He straightened himself and forced a smile.

“I’m glad…,” he said but then cleared his throat as if he couldn’t finish and didn’t seem like he was going to be able to finish. But it didn’t matter, I think we both got the message.

Dean pulled Sienna to him and hugged so tightly it looked like she’d snap. Her body shook as she cried into his arm. It was almost too much for me to even watch. He shifted his eyes upward and looked at me. His eyes were dark pink and watery. But I understood. She was his sister… it wasn’t like I was going anywhere. I’d wait as long as it took.

When Dean stepped away, Penn put his hand on her shoulder protectively and stayed with her. Dean’s fingertips grazed my cheeks as he looked into my eyes. He slipped his hands around my neck and wasn’t the least bit shy about pulling me in for a kiss. His warm lips against mine recharged me. He felt real. So real. It was as if the kiss was breathing life back into my deflating body. I felt alive and remembered all the reasons why we needed to get away from Dominick and the resistance.

“I was so worried,” he whispered into my ear. “Probably the dumbest thing I could do at a time like this is fall so hard for someone. But God, I love you… I love you.”

“I love you too,” I said, and felt the warm tears rolling down my cheeks. Turns out I hadn’t been as dehydrated as I thought. “I thought I was going to have to wait for you in Colorado. That is if we would ever be able to get away from—”

“Come on love birds,” Dominick said, but it wasn’t in his usual tone. The unknown fate of his brother had somewhat changed him. At least for now it had. “It’ll be dark soon. We’re hiding in here for the night,” he said staring at us, but it felt more like he was looking through us. As if he kept seeing a mirage of Mack in the distance running this way.

We followed him inside the gas station. Once we were all inside Dominick and Dezzie went through the room making sure it was empty. Then Dezzie locked the door and checked the windows.

When they were satisfied they led us further inside to a small room that used to function as an office. It had a thin, flimsy wooden door, a desk, a chair and a small fold-down bed. The room didn’t have any windows and maybe it was a good thing it didn’t. Although it felt a little claustrophobic.

The five of us were exceptionally cramped inside, but it seemed as though we were mostly safe. Of course, if HOME came and set the building on fire we’d be cooked, but that was always a possibility no matter where we stayed.

Dezzie set down the large jug of water he had carried in from the truck. I wondered if our water supply in the truck would survive the night or if someone would come along and take it. There really hadn’t been many people around, so I wouldn’t be surprised if we woke up and it was still there.

“See if there is anything left out there,” Dominick ordered and Dezzie checked his gun before he followed his leader’s orders. After he stepped out of the room, Dominick locked the door behind him, which seemed a bit strange. Dezzie was out there and could hear or see anyone coming. Would Dominick just leave him out there to fend for himself if he heard any kind of disturbance?

After maybe ten minutes or so, Dezzie kicked at the door. He came inside and plopped down a few prepackaged bars, fruit strips, a can of mushroom soup and a jar of peanut butter. “Oh, and this,” he said setting down a single plastic spoon. No one asked where he’d found just one spoon because no one wanted to know the answer.

I wasn’t exactly sure how we were going to divide it all up, but at least we all had the spoon to share. And we had food which was a good thing. I couldn’t complain. Well, I could, but I probably shouldn’t.

Dezzie pulled out one of those pocket tools that had like twenty different uses and opened the can of soup. He took a spoonful and scrunched up his nose. It took him about thirty seconds but he managed to swallow the cold, thick soup down.

“I think you are supposed to, well usually anyway, mix it with milk,” I said with a smile.

“I’m not even sure that would help!” Dezzie said taking several big gulps of water.

After we finished eating our portions of the food, Dominick laid down on the bed as if he somehow deserved it more than anyone else. He winked at me, moved over slightly and tapped the thin mattress, but I pretended not to notice. I moved closer to Dean. I didn’t care if I had to sleep on the floor. It wouldn’t have been the first time and it most definitely wouldn’t be the last time.

“Aww,” Dominick said tilting his head to the side. I wasn’t sure if he was pretending he was sad because I hadn’t climbed into bed with him, or if he was trying to act like seeing Dean and I cuddled together was a precious sight. It didn’t matter. I wasn’t going to allow myself to give it any more thought.