Chapter Twenty-Five
Paul and Bobby both had long range automatic rifles and they walked holding them pointed down across their bodies. Still in a defensive position.
Eva wasn’t sure how she felt about this. They seemed more an armed escort, her bodyguards, rather than just additional bodies to help them find Michael. She’d noticed the way the men always seemed to flank her, yet paid no attention to Devlin’s position in their little group. She’d protest, but knew it would be pointless, since they were both stubborn people.
They kept to alleys and in the shadows. Because even though it was still several hours before the sun set, it looked like dusk in the sky, like the sun was a bit muted. It seemed to appear in patches. While most soulless might not be able to stand even that little bit of sun, Michael might be able to since he’d shown up at the coffee shop during daylight. But he did tend to sit in a corner away from the window. He wasn’t an Olden, the records for him only went back a few hundred years, but he was powerful.
“I think we need to take a break,” Devlin stated.
They’d been walking for the last three hours with only one short break, avoiding any of the military or National Guard they ran into. They didn’t see many people, which meant the area they were in had been cleared. They needed to keep going.
“I’m all for that. And let’s see if we get a signal,” Eva replied. “See if we can figure out a direction to go in. The soulless will need bodies to feed from.”
“How about over there?” Paul suggested pointing to what looked like a pizza restaurant.
“As good a spot as any,” Eva replied and meant it.
The glass in the window was already broken but Eva tried the door and it wasn’t locked. She pushed the door open and drew her gun, holding it out in front of her as she’d been taught. Devlin came in after her and angled to the other side of the room. She felt Paul and Bobby bringing up the rear.
The place was empty. Some of the tables and chairs had been toppled over. Eva moved passed them and headed for the open kitchen area. She could see drawers and cabinets ajar and empty. She opened the refrigerator and that too was empty. The open brick oven had nothing but ashes in it. There were a stack of pizza boxes piled at one end.
Devlin picked up one of the tables on its side and straightened it up. Bobby picked up two chairs and placed them around the table. Eva came around and grabbed two others when the sound of Paul’s “Bingo!” had her spinning around.
“What is it?” Devlin asked.
Paul was holding one of the boxes and came over to them. He placed it on the table and opened it up. There was a pepperoni and sausage pizza in there.
“Dude,” Bobby said. “That thing is a couple of days old and hard.”
Paul turned around and glanced over at the oven. “That’s a gas wood burning oven. I bet I can get it started and heat this baby up.”
Devlin shrugged and inclined his hand toward the kitchen area. “Knock yourself out.”
An hour later, they were back out on foot but at least their bellies were full of stale pizza. They’d run into an armored car of soldiers but instead of all of them hiding, she and Devlin stepped out to ask questions. Like what was the best place to find shelter, a safe place to go. The soldier in charge was more than happy to point them in the right direction, assuming they were looking for shelter. Now at least they had a loose destination.
“You sure about this?” Paul asked.
He’d only asked what she’d been thinking already. She couldn’t help but feel they’d been lucky so far. She was surprised to see how far out beyond LA the devastation reached, but still the farther east they went, the more intact the buildings. Then they started seeing small pockets of people while searching among some of the more intact buildings. Even a couple of houses in neighborhoods with candlelight flashing in the windows.
“We need to spread out in this area,” Devlin suggested. “Paul and Bobby take the right side of the street, Eva and I will take this side. Keep sharp for both human and soulless. This would be good hunting grounds for them.”
“We should also be on the lookout for a place to get some rest come the dawn before we start back to Eva’s,” Bobby added.
“Good idea, we’ve got a long way to go to get back to the Jeep and that’s assuming it’s still even there,” Devlin agreed. He pulled out his phone and turned it on to see if he had a signal. He did. They’d been keeping their phones turned off to save their battery lives. “See if you all have signals. We’ll search for an hour but fan out and keep heading east and stay on your side of the street. Check any pockets of humanity you come across look for signs of soulless influence. Check in every twenty minutes or if you run into anything. Then we meet up again in an hour and find a place to get a little sleep.
Devlin and Eva searched but they found no sign of Michael or any other soulless and neither did the others. Eva found a garden apartment building where it had been partially caved in, so the building was deserted. Paul picked the lock on one of the ground floor apartments. The second floor apartment had fallen into one of the back bedrooms but most of the apartment was intact and appeared to be safe enough for them to spend a few hours in. They raided the pantry for food and water, the supply they had before was mostly depleted. They found a lot of canned goods and made themselves a meal.
“We should probably all stay together in the living room,” Devlin said. “Eva can take the couch.”
“I can pull the cushions off the couch and put them on the floor for you all,” she offered.
“Not necessary, I spied a bed in the bedroom still intact. I can grab the mattress and Eva can use it. It might be more comfortable and I can take the couch,” Bobby offered.
“That’s not necessary,” Eva said.
“It’s no problem,” Bobby replied.
“Okay, thanks.”
“Why should you get the couch?” Paul asked Bobby. “What are you, soft?” He laughed.
“We can flip for it,” Bobby countered.
“Nah it’s okay, just teasing. Let me see if I can salvage anything from the other room. If not, you can give me the cushions on the couch,” Paul said, “Because these old bones are soft.” Everyone laughed.
Devlin moved the furniture around a bit while the guys were getting the mattress. When they came back, he took it from Bobby and placed it at the foot of the couch lengthwise, so his and Eva’s heads would be hidden by the side of the couch and only their feet would show beyond it. Because he had every intention of sharing the mattress with Eva.
Paul grabbed the cushions and laid them on the floor on the other side of the couch, giving them some semblance of privacy.
“Should we have a watch?” Eva asked.
“We’ve locked the door and given the state of the complex, I doubt anyone is coming back anytime soon. The road here isn’t drivable because of the deep gashes in several spots. We should be fine for a couple of hours. We’re all exhausted and still have a long trek home.” Devlin blew out the candles they’d found earlier.
Then everyone settled down.
He took Eva in his arms, her back to his front and spooned her closer to him. He’d rather they were skin to skin but that wasn’t going to happen with their audience. She twined their fingers together and he had an overwhelming sense of contentment. From the way she sighed, he thought she might have felt the same way too. Exhausted, Devlin closed his eyes.