Hungry Independents (Book 2) (15 page)

Scout set the bowl on the coffee table and
dried his hands on his shorts. He dug out the Boy Scout shirt and
held it to his face, smelling the fabric. He ran his arms through
the sleeves and pulled on the uniform. Then he sat back down on the
couch. Afternoon sunlight crept across the wall and onto the
bedroom door.

The door opened and Raven hauled her backpack
into the living room. She called it her bug out bag and packed it
with essentials just in case some world ending threat ever happened
again.

“What are you doing?” Scout asked.

She dropped the bag by the front door. “I’m
out of here.”

It was like getting sucker punched in the
chest. The initial shock knocked the air from his lungs. Scout rose
from the couch and took a faltering step toward Raven.

She held up her hand. “Don’t, Scout. Don’t
make this harder than it has to be. I don’t belong here. I’ll never
be able to fit in. I have to go before someone else gets hurt.”

“What are you talking about? You’re the one
who got hurt. We’ll fix this. Mark and Samuel are already out
talking to Billy and Dylan. This will be behind us before you know
it. You’ll see.”

“No, I won’t. I’m not going to be here.”

Scout wanted to hold her, grab her, tell her
that he loved her and wanted her to stay with him. She didn’t have
to run away. Scout would take care of the problem before it grew
out of control. He dropped his head and closed his eyes. The
rushing of his emotions roared in his mind.

“Did you hear me, Scout?”

He jerked his head up. “No, I’m sorry. What
did you say?”

“I’m leaving, Scout.”

“Yeah, I heard that, but…”

“And I’m breaking up with you.”

Scout’s knees dipped as his plans for the
future shattered along with what he supposed was his heart. He
tried to think of something to say that would keep her here.

“Why?”

“I’m just not ready to settle down and be the
preacher’s wife. I want to be out in the world, not stuck in some
little town doing nothing but working to survive. I want to live. I
want to experience the world and that isn’t going to happen in the
middle of Nebraska.”

“But,” he added nothing. He had nothing to
say—and everything at once.
I
want
you
to
stay
.
I
need
you
to
be
with
me
.
I
love
you
. None of it sounded
right. None of his words would be anything more than pleading. He
knew Raven would never respect him if he came off weak.

“Can’t we try and fix this? Can we give it
just a bit more time? I can do something else. I don’t have to stay
here.”

The way Raven stared at him made him want to
crawl under the sofa and hide. She never looked at him like that
before. She was already gone. All that was left was for her to haul
her stuff out the door, down the stairs, and across the edge of
town. He couldn’t stop her. Not with all the words in the
world.

“Where will you go?”

She sighed. “I don’t know yet. I’m going east
or south. I’m not going anywhere near Denver if that’s what you’re
thinking.”

He did think that. The ugly thought climbed
from his gut, stepped over the pieces of his heart, and clung like
black cancer in his mind. She was leaving Scout to go back to
Chase. The guy still infected her like the plague he was. Like the
plague he set upon the world—the plague that killed Jimmy.

Raven lifted her backpack and swung the
straps over her shoulders.

Scout stood still. “Do you want me to come
with you?”

The silence that followed crushed every ounce
of his spirit. She sighed again and opened the door. Scout had
never heard anything as loud as the knob turning to withdraw the
bolt.

“No, Scout.” She stepped outside and closed
the door.

Scout listened to her heavy steps fade all
the way down the stairs. He thought he heard her crying. Hoped she
was crying. He stood in the middle of their apartment staring at
nothing, wearing his new Boy Scout shirt. He should run after her,
should make her stay until she started thinking straight again. He
should find Catherine and have her make sure that Chase’s influence
was gone and that this was truly Raven’s choice.

His breathing sounded heavy and harsh, like
he’d fought a ten round title match and got his butt kicked by
someone who threw all the right punches. Any moment Raven would
walk back in and apologize. She’d tell him she was being crazy—she
didn’t mean it. She loved him more than anything. The door would
open—any moment.

The light outside dimmed, casting deep
shadows into the apartment as if that was the way things would
appear to Scout from now on—dim and dismal, without any hope.

He spun around and jumped up on the sofa,
pressing his hands to the window. A dark cloud had moved in on the
sunshine. A breeze blew through the screen, chasing around the room
before flowing to another open window in the bedroom. He couldn’t
see her. She wasn’t on Main Street. He had to watch her go. He
couldn’t just let her walk away forever without seeing her one last
time.

Scout ran out the door and flew down the
stairs, skipping three or four steps at a time. He hit the brick
cobbles and looked in both directions. Scout decided she was being
honest and was going east or south—not west, to
him
.

He headed toward the eastern side of town,
sprinting so fast he could feel the push in his toes. Houses, trees
and kids blurred as he passed. Kids waved or tried to say
something, neither of which he paid attention to. He had to find
her.

He made it to the edge of town without
running into her. She had just left the apartment. Surely she
hadn’t gotten this far yet. The cloud broke past the sun like a
lazy giant, returning the heat. Breathing deep, Scout tried to
figure out where to run to next.

South, she said either east or south. Maybe
she headed southeast, back to their hometown of St. Louis. Raven
would go somewhere familiar. She’d go back to the Lou.

Scout rounded the outskirts of town toward
south, watching the whole time for Raven. He stumbled into things
as he ran: a bush, a bucket, a water hand pump. He ran into a tree
and bruised his elbow. These were only minor distractions compared
to his desperation to find Raven and convince her to stay.

The road that led south was a pothole
bonanza. No sign of Raven—only flat, treeless, open prairie. He
stumbled off toward the west with a lot less enthusiasm, convincing
himself that she had left to go back to Denver. His energy spent
chasing Raven’s ghost trail, he staggered to the western edge and
fell to his knees. The road out west was worse than the south.
After three hundred yards of rubble, the small road turned into
prairie where it led to another smaller town fifteen miles
away.

He felt relieved because Raven wasn’t there
either. A sprig of hope blossomed in his broken heart. Scout
hurried back to his apartment, pressing a hand to his side where a
nasty cramp threatened to make him crawl. Scout dragged tired legs
up the stairs and his step lightened when he saw the open door. He
took a deep breath and walked across the threshold, ready to do
anything to make Raven happy.

Vanessa smiled at him. She held a stack of
Boy’s Life magazines in her hands and placed them carefully back on
the table. Little David sat on a blanket spread out on the floor,
playing with Scout’s alphabet blocks. He squealed with excitement
when he saw Scout and threw the letter B at him.

“What are you doing here?” Scout asked his
sister.

“I came by to see if you were all right.”

He took several deep breaths, recovering from
his run around town. All he wanted to do was fall on the floor in a
heap of exhaustion and tears. “I’m fine.”

Vanessa stepped closer. “Raven stopped by to
get her motorcycle.” Vanessa stepped again. “I’m so sorry,
Scout.”

He couldn’t breathe as he silently cursed his
stupidity. Of course Raven rode off on her motorcycle. The room
spun like a cyclone with his sister anchoring the middle. She took
a final step and caught him as the tears fell. He squeezed his eyes
shut, trying to stem his sorrow, not wanting to look like a
complete mess in front of Vanessa. She held her hand against the
back of his head and whispered soft words. He didn’t comprehend
because his thoughts were chasing after Raven as she drove farther
away.

Now she was gone. Scout didn’t know why. It
happened so fast. Everything today had been like that. Hellhounds,
Dylan, Billy, the box of Boy Scout stuff, Raven, Ginger and the
baby—everything happened so fast. Scout was along for the ride with
neither the choice of direction nor the capability to stop.

Now he just wanted off.

What was happening today? Why had everything
gone wrong? How could he return to the way things were this morning
before he woke up?

“I like the uniform.” Vanessa had moved back
and was giving his shirt the up and down. “You finally found one.
It looks good on you.”

A smile crept across his face like it was
ashamed to be there, but he was too happy about the Boy Scout stuff
to ignore her compliment. “I found it this morning in the same
house where we salvaged all the baby furniture. It was just in a
box sitting in the kid’s closet.”

“Why’d you go out there?”

His smile slipped away like a distant memory.
“I went for a ride to clear my head.” He sat on the couch and
unlaced his shoes, his feet sore after the pounding run. “It’s been
a rough day.”

Little David squawked, holding onto a table
leg and reaching for something up on Scout’s shelf. Vanessa lifted
him off the ground and after a series of grunts and pointing; he
came away with a baseball. Vanessa set him on his feet again and
patted him on the bottom. Little David threw the baseball across
the room and followed.

Vanessa took a seat across from Scout. “I’ve
heard some of it, especially about the altercation on Main Street.
Did you really yell obscenities?”

Scout looked away from her penetrating brown
eyes. He removed his Boy Scout shirt, folding it neatly then
placing it on the sofa beside him. “It’s been a really rough day.
I’m sorry.”

He had excuses for the way things had gone,
but in reality he was too blind to see the way things were going
and that had cost him his reputation and his girlfriend.

Was it pride? Did he enjoy the attention of
preaching? How was he going to preach to these kids now? Sunday was
in two days. How would he patch things up before then? Maybe he
needed a break. Maybe Independents needed a break from him.

His sister sat quietly watching his internal
struggle without comment. She would never stand for anything less
than his absolute best. She demanded it of him—made him tougher and
kept him alive through her guidance. Not only had he embarrassed
himself, but her as well, and that was worse than anything—even
losing Raven. He looked up at Vanessa.

“What are you going to do about it?” she
asked.

“I’m going to be better.”

She smiled. “I’m sure you will be.”

The late Friday afternoon sunshine burned at
a bright angle across Margaret and Samuel as they walked over to
Dylan’s house. Not even a breeze rippled through the lines of
hanging laundry. School had been cancelled with the birth of baby
James. Chores were finished early and now all the younger kids
flittered past trying to find that one good hiding spot in a
massive game of hide and seek. The group of “its” roamed in a wild
pack, kicking bushes and looking under porches. Those that were
uncovered were quickly tagged and sulked back to base in shame.

“But I’ve already been tagged,” Emma
argued.

“Then why are you hiding?” Reese said. Reese
had graduated from Vanessa’s school last spring. Now she was the
official babysitter of Independents; today her responsibilities had
doubled with baby James. Hands on her hips, she wasn’t listening to
any of Emma’s excuses. “This time go back to base.”

“All right, all right, sheesh! I was just
sitting in the shade. It’s so hot out here. You don’t have to be so
bossy.”

“Follow the rules if you want to keep
playing.”

Emma stalked off in a huff and the group of
“its” continued their search. Margaret liked watching them play.
Besides little David and now James, everyone else was older than
nine. After all the trials and strife fighting to survive, it was
good that kids still knew how to enjoy their childhood.

Margaret couldn’t believe these things were
happening now. The plague had come and hopefully gone. Hellhounds
were on the loose, and she and Catherine were moving among mankind
again. She had slept through the past seventeen years totally
unaware. Now she felt disoriented in the apocalyptic chaos.

She tried processing everything in that
seventeen year blank space where all her choices were made by
someone else. That’s the only way she could think about it. It
wasn’t her, but this other person called Molly. And Molly had made
a couple major choices for the both of them.

First and foremost was Hunter. Their
relationship was very… Margaret’s cheeks warmed. She tugged the hem
of her shirt down as if she were walking around exposed.

Beside her, apparently lost in his thoughts,
Samuel’s lips were pressed into a tight frown,. They were getting
closer to Dylan’s house after checking the weight room on Main
Street first. If Dylan wasn’t home, they’d have to search the
nearby lake where he fished for the Brittanys.