Chapter Thirty
“I think we’re far enough away now,” Eva said pulling Devlin to a halt. “Let’s stop for a bit.”
“I’m sorry, you okay?”
“Yeah, just need a minute.” She bent down and kissed the dog’s head. “Good girl.”
Devlin grinned. “She was pretty bad ass. You sure you’re all right?”
“Fine.”
He glanced around the area.
Eva did as well. “There,” she said. “Let’s see if one of these cars was left unlocked. We can take a break, eat a little something and check the street map, see how far we are from the Jeep.”
“Good idea. But, we’re still a few hours away.” He went over to one of the cars parked at the side of the street.
She watched as he pulled at door after door. Then she turned and started checking the doors of some of the cars that had just been abandoned in the middle of the road.
“No, not those,” he said.
“Why?”
“Line of sight. Would be easier for us to see anyone approaching on this side of the sidewalk or coming down the center of the street. Got one.” He’d found an SUV that had been unlocked. He opened up the back of the SUV and they climbed in.
Starla jumped over the back seat and sat in the storage area.
Eva sighed as she reached into her bag for a few treats for her. The dog took them eagerly from her hand. “That’s my girl.” Then she took out the hard salami sandwiches she’d found at the house where they’d spent the night. She gave Devlin one. He grabbed one of the water bottles he carried in his backpack for her and kept one for himself. She drank half of it down. “Ah, that tastes good.” She got out the dog bowl she’d stuck in her bag, poured the rest of the water into it, gave it to Starla, and ruffled the dog’s head.
Devlin handed her the rest of his water.
She took a swig and passed it back to him.
He chuckled. “You sure you’re okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine.”
“I meant with me killing those men.”
She shrugged. “It was us or them. I don’t have to like it. I just have to be okay with doing whatever needs to be done. And sometimes, that means taking a life or ending one in the case of human or the soulless. Even Starla here reacted to protect us.”
He leaned over and kissed her, the taste of the spicy mustard she’d placed on their sandwiches strong on his tongue. Yet underneath it all, the flavor she’d come to associate with Devlin was the strongest of all. He tasted like home.
They finished their meal and replaced the plastic sandwich bags in her satchel. May as well save it for reuse. After checking the map she had, Devlin stepped out of the car first and looked around then she came out. Smiling at each other, they continued on their journey with Starla tagging along. It was well after midday, if they continued at a reasonable pace, stopping a few times for short breaks, they should find the Jeep before dusk. If it was still there.
“This street looks familiar,” Devlin said a few hours later.
“That’s because the Jeep is just a few blocks from here,” she replied.
“We hope.”
“Yeah.”
“Do you think Paul and Bobby will be there?” They’d been able to keep in partial contact with them. If they kept to the same pace, they should all arrive about the same time. She turned around just in case, but she could see no one.
“Son of a bitch!” Devlin exclaimed. “Look.”
She smiled. The Jeep was still there but no sign of either of the hunters.
“I guess we beat ‘em here.”
“Yes.” There were several buildings five stories or more where they were. A few seemed to be untouched by the quake. She got an idea. “Maybe we can get into one of these buildings and take a look from higher up. See if we spot your men. And might be a safer place to wait if there’s anyone patrolling this area.”
“Good idea.”
Unfortunately, most of the buildings seemed to have retained some kind of damage from the earthquake, the area must have been hit hard. Some buildings had cracks running up the outside, most were missing bricks or siding. They found one that had five floors and appeared to be intact. Devlin kicked the door in. They located the stairs and made their way to the roof. The sun had maybe an hour before it would set, so they could see the area better. There were still some low lying gray clouds in spots and they couldn’t quite see for miles. They sat up on the roof and finished the last of the sandwiches she’d brought with her and fed Starla. They kept an eye in the direction they thought the men would come from.
Eva must have dozed off with her head on Devlin’s lap because she woke up with his lips on hers. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she kissed him back.
“Wake up, sleeping beauty,” he murmured against her mouth.
“I like the way you wake me up.”
“I think I see the men heading this way.”
She sat up and glanced in the direction they should be coming from. “Yes, I see them. At least I see two people hard to tell from this distance but…” There was something wrong. One seemed to be helping the other. Yes, one was definitely leaning against the other. “I think one of them is hurt.”
“Yeah, I see.”
They made their way downstairs and hurried to meet the men. As they got closer, they could see it was Paul who was hurt. He was limping, Bobby was supporting him.
Devlin raced forward to take Paul’s weight. “What happened?”
“Sorry we’re late. Almost didn’t make it. We ran into some human assholes,” Bobby replied.
“Yeah, one took a swipe at me with his knife,” Paul added. “I tripped and he managed to nick the side of my leg. No big deal. I’ll be fine.”
“Let me take a look,” Eva said.
Bobby moved away to allow her to access the cut leg. The jean material had been sliced open and there was blood all down his pants leg.
“Who’s this?” Paul asked offering the dog with them his hand.
“That’s Eva’s new pet, Starla,” Devlin supplied.
As she pulled the material aside and could see they’d made an attempt to clean the wound. It had been wrapped but continued to bleed. She wasn’t surprised given all the walking they had to do. “Come on let’s get you in the Jeep. There’s a first aid kit in there and we can repatch this.”
They turned to go back to the Jeep but Starla sat on the sidewalk and barked at them. It wasn’t a hostile bark more like hello.
Eva grinned and stroked her head. “It’s okay, girl. This is Bobby and that’s Paul.” She nodded toward each man.
“Hello, Starla,” Bobby said.
Eva opened up the back storage part of the SUV for Starla to jump into then she shut the door and Devlin helped Paul into the back seat. Bobby got in behind him. She grabbed the first aid kit she’d placed in the car just in case and handed it to Bobby. “You okay playing doctor again?”
“I’m good.”
“There’s a package of powder in there. A special homemade recipe for stopping the bleeding and providing an antibiotic. Sprinkle enough to cover the cut after you clean him up, then bandage it.”
“Got it.”
Eva got in the passenger’s seat and they took off. She hadn’t even realized she’d fallen asleep until she felt herself being lifted and nestled against a hard body. She snuggled against it. But when her world seemed to shift again, she opened her eyes just in time to see she was in her bedroom.