Out Of The Ashes (The Ending Series, #3) (43 page)

“Hey, Zo,” she said, a grunt
immediately following as she shoveled old food and manure and wet hay from the
ground. “You look like crap.”

I smiled at her. “Awe. You’re so
sweet.”

Dani barked a laugh. “How are the
twins? Are they finally asleep?”

I tilted my head to the side.
“Nope, but I left them with Biggs.” I suddenly remembered how low we were
getting on formula. “Oh, I gotta remember to tell H to get more formula next
time you guys head into town…we should be fine until then, I think…” My
thoughts began to wander.

Dani stopped shoveling and
straightened. Brushing a wisp of hair from her face, she leaned against the
shovel she’d wedged into the dirt. “Everything’ll be fine, Zo. You’re doing a
great job.” She offered me a reassuring smile.

“Yeah…” I glanced around at all
the clean animal pens. “It looks like you’re making headway. Sorry I haven’t
been much help. I’m actually surprised you’ve been able to do so much with
Annie running around like the crazy little banshee she is.”

“Sam’s a lifesaver,” Dani said
with an exhausted sigh. I was really proud of her for adapting to the survivor
lifestyle as well as she had. I barely remembered the girly, dolled-up Dani I’d
known growing up. Our little farm seemed to be giving her a sense of purpose,
which I could understand, and I could tell by the revived glint in her eyes
that she was happy here.

“Have you eaten at all?” I asked,
wondering how long she’d been working without a break.

“Umm, no, not really. I sort of
forgot.”

I shook my head. “Tsk. Tsk. It’s
nearly noon.”

Dani’s eyes narrowed, and she
cocked her head to the side. “Have
you
eaten?”

With a laugh that sounded almost
like a sob, I rested my fists on my hips. “Touché, D, touché.” I shook my head.
“I’m actually planning on whipping something up for everyone right now. You
seen Becca at all?”

“Nope, but then again, I’ve sorta
been in my own world all morning.”

“Animal chatting?”

Dani only gave me a guilty smile
and wrinkled her nose. “But no drifting, I promise.”

I nodded. “You’re doing good, D.” I
gave her a small, approving smile and turned to go. “I’ll let you know when
it’s ready—oh,” I stopped mid-step and turned around again. “Harper set the
infirmary up in the master bedroom, so you and Jason get the smaller room
downstairs. Is that okay?”

“Is that the one with the
ginormous walk-in closet?”

I nodded. “You worried you won’t
have room for the duffel bag containing the only clothes you own?”

She gave me a sassy smirk. “No,
although it’s past time for a little shopping spree…” Her eyes widened.
“Anyway, I was thinking, since Carlos is sleeping in the stable with Vanessa,
Annie can stay with me and Jason. I can make the closet into a little room for
her.”

“Sounds good.” I gave her a quick
goodbye wave. “I’ll leave you to it.”

“Thanks, Zo,” she called, and I headed
back to the farmhouse. Jogging up the porch steps, I nearly ran into Biggs as
he hustled out the front door…without the babies.

“I thought it was ‘dad time’ with
the twins,” I said.

Biggs shrugged. “Jake needs my
help. Harper and Chris took them into the house.”

I shook my head as he walked
toward the shed. “Bullet dodger,” I grumbled.

Entering through the front door as
quietly as I could so as not to disturb any sleeping babies, I walked down the
hall to the living room and peeked my head inside. I grinned.

Chris was cooing at Everett, who
gurgled and hiccupped in her arms as she rocked him. Harper was smiling down at
Ellie, who was cradled in his lap. With Harper’s dancing eyebrows and too-wide
smiles, he was making the goofiest faces at her I’d ever seen on anyone.

“Have either of you seen Becca?” I
whispered.

Chris glanced up at me and shook
her head, a self-satisfied smile brightening her relaxed features. She was
completely content. “Not since she moved her stuff up into her room.”

Harper finally looked at me and
shook his head. He was trying his damnedest to keep little Ellie in love with
him like all the other ladies, but exhaustion filled his eyes, and I had to
stifle a laugh. “She ensnared by your charm yet, H?”

He gave me a small, cocky smile.
“We’re getting there.”

“Good.” I nodded in the direction
of the kitchen. “I’m going to make us something to eat. I’ll let you know when
it’s ready.”

Chris and Harper nodded in tandem
and turned their attention back to their charges.

Assuming Becca was still in her
room, I headed back toward the front of the house and up the narrow staircase.
The mahogany banister was cool beneath my hand as I ascended, and having grown up
with a woodworker for a father, I could appreciate the carpentry that had gone
into a house like this—the spindle baluster uprights and Grecian-esque crown
molding that came into view as I reached the top of the stairs were just a few
of the touches that gave the grand Victorian so much character.

The oak wood floors were polished,
and I could see the pale pink and coffee-colored area rugs scattered
purposefully throughout the second floor through the railing as I approached
the landing. Black and white scenic photos of the property hung from the
neutral-colored walls. Delicate lace and cream-colored curtains adorned the
tall, skinny windows, letting in the early afternoon sunlight, and the minimal,
blond wood furniture matched the floors, each piece strategically placed. It
was hard to believe dead bodies had been in the house less than a day before
we’d settled in, and I was grateful I didn’t know which room had been their
final resting place.

I headed down the hall toward the
room I thought now belonged to Becca and the other Re-gens. I passed what I
assumed was Chris’s room, given the shotgun propped against the closet door on
the far side and the pack that had been left on the bed, and stopped outside
the door to Becca’s room.

I knocked lightly and waited for
an answer. Other than the sudden outburst of crying babies downstairs and the
old house settling in the growing heat, I didn’t hear anything on the other
side of the door. I knocked again.

“I’ll be out in a minute,” Becca
finally rasped from inside, a coughing fit immediately following.

“Becca, are you okay?”

Hearing sniffles and another
cough, I began to worry. Without hesitation, I turned the handle and pushed the
door open.

The room was mostly dark, the
striped beige and chocolate-colored paper lining the walls only visible in the
wash of sunlight that filtered in through the parted curtains. Becca sat on the
edge of one of the twin beds, a sea of bloodied tissues on the floor and around
her impression on the mattress.

“Becca?” My heart thudded, and I
felt the color drain from my face as I rushed over to her. “What’s wrong?” I
searched her face for answers, her body for some indication of what was wrong,
but I didn’t know what to look for.

Her shoulders were slouched and
her feet were dangling haplessly over the edge of the bed.

“Becca, what’s wrong? Do you want
me to get Harper?”

Slowly, she shook her head. “He
can’t help me.”

I didn’t like the sound of that. I
scanned her body again. At some point over the past few weeks she’d grown
thinner, and her eyes were rimmed with dark circles.

“Becca,” I breathed. “What’s going
on?” I crouched on the floor beside her bed. When she didn’t say anything, I
reached for her hand, desperate for her to confide in me. “
Please
, tell
me.”

She cleared her throat, and I
lifted my gaze to her heavy-lidded gray eyes as she looked down at me. “I’m
dying.”

My breath hitched, and I nearly
choked. “You’re
what
?”
First Sarah, and now Becca?
I didn’t think
I could handle losing her, too…I didn’t think I could handle losing
anyone
else.

Becca’s gaze seemed unfocused and
distant. “The Re-gen process does not come without repercussions.” She stared
down at the bloodied tissue in her hand. “My organs are shutting down. It is
only a matter of time.”

“What?” I nearly screeched as I squeezed
her hand. “No! You finally belong with us. Why…”

“You can’t bring people back from
the dead and expect them to go about life as though nothing has changed. It’s
not natural, and my body is failing.”

I shook my head and rose to my
feet. The space in the room wasn’t nearly enough as I paced back and forth, my
mind racing and my heart breaking. “And you know this because you’ve seen it?”

“Yes,” she said easily, but I
struggled to accept things as easily as she did.

“Then you must know of a cure,” I
said. “If you’ve seen this, if you understand, then you must see a way out…an
alternative…” I straightened, realizing Jake had no clue. “You never said
anything.”
How can she do this to him again?
I suddenly felt desperate,
angry but desperate. “Jake…”

In an unexpected display of
emotion, Becca narrowed her eyes, apparently comprehending the directions my
thoughts were going. “And why would I tell him? There is nothing
he
can
do for me. He would just worry.”

“Of course he would worry. Becca,
you’re dying. I—” I froze mid-step. I suddenly felt a flare of hope. “A
transfusion. Jake could give you a blood transfusion. It’ll be the first thing
he thinks of, I know it will.”

Becca shook her head. “That won’t
work. The process by which we’re created—”

“Becca, we should at least—”

“Trust me,” she said, her patience
clearly thinning.

“And Mase…and Camille.” Dani would
be devastated; we
all
would be devastated. “We’ve already lost so many…”
I stepped in front of her, searching her eyes for reassurance. “Please tell me
there’s a way to help you…to save you.”

Her eyes softened, and she offered
me a weak smile. “Mase and Camille are okay,” she said so certainly I almost
believed her. “They’ve both had so much electrotherapy that they should be
fine…for a while.”

Shaking my head, I tried to steady
my voice and my breathing as I sat down beside her on the white down comforter.
“Electrotherapy? Like what happened to Dani…or like what Carlos was doing to
me?”

“Yes, both. But what Carlos was
doing to you was only a fraction of the intensity that is needed to prolong our
lives. It is similar to part of the process that creates us in the first place,
and it seems to act as a sort of reset.” Becca stared out the open bedroom
door. “I have mentioned my degeneration to Mase and Camille, and they have no
symptoms, not like me…and they will not for some time.”

I gaped at her, completely
speechless. Unable to take her silent contemplation, I stood and strode to one
of the windows, peering out at our fresh start that seemed to be slipping away
before it really even began. Like so many times in the past month, I felt
useless. “Please, Becca. Please tell me there’s a way.” And just as I said the
words, I turned to face her. “Carlos—”

“We cannot risk him burning his
Ability out,” she said. “You need him too much, and he is so young. I will not
ask him.”

I straightened, a jolt of anger
shooting through me. “It’s not your call,” I said. “It’s Carlos’s. I don’t want
anything to happen to him, either, but he’s been practicing on Mase and Camille;
he’s getting stronger. You don’t know that he can’t handle it…unless you do
because you
saw
something.”

Becca shook her head. “And you
would risk him burning out? For me? Do you not see—” Becca began coughing
again, this time lying back and curling into the fetal position, her features
twisted in pain. “I shouldn’t speak, it only makes it worse.”

“Hold on, Becca. I’m gonna find
Harper. We’ll figure something out.”

And before I knew it, I was
running down the hallway toward the stairs. Gabe was the one who knew about
this stuff, but he was with Sanchez back in New Bodega. Harper was a doctor,
but not a Re-gen specialist, so I could only hope we would find a solution
before it was too late. I rushed into the living room, where Harper and Chris
were still sitting sleepily beside one another on the couch.

“H,” I said, trying to get his
attention without waking the twins. “H!”

Finally, Chris’s eyes opened, and
upon seeing the look of what I assumed was horror on my face, she nudged Harper
from his nodding state.

He immediately straightened, his
eyes focused and alert on mine. “What is it, Baby Girl?”

“It’s Becca,” I croaked. “She’s
sick, and…I need your help.”

As I took the babies from their
arms, I explained what I knew in a rush of words I wasn’t sure they fully
understood, but they didn’t waste any time. While Chris ran out to grab Carlos
and Jake, Harper and I went upstairs.

Becca’s coughing had momentarily
subsided, but I could see the fear in Harper’s eyes as he stood beside her bed,
staring down at the bloodstained tissues surrounding her.