 
NO SHELTER

Book One of the No Shelter Trilogy

by T.S. Welti

http://tswelti.com

Copyright © 2012 by T.S. Welti

Smashwords Edition

Published by T.S. Welti at Smashwords

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each reader. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

ISBN-13: 9781476009230

_For Ronnie,_

_who encouraged this lunacy_

_and will never know how much that meant to me._

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. ALLIANCES

2. ABANDONED

3. STRANGER DANGER

4. SALTON SEA

5. KANE AND ELYSIA

6. NO SHELTER

7. MT. VESUVIUS

8. TREMBLE

9. SCAVENGERS

10. DISPOSABLE

11. FUNNY

12. PIECES OF YOU

13. BURN IT UP

14. HOLDING

15. FRIENDS

PREVIEW OF LEFT BEHIND

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

COPYRIGHT

" _The end of the world will come with a violent choking breath, and the final gasp will be that of a child."_

\- Dr. Bradford Pike, December 21, 2042

**CHAPTER 1**

I didn't know how sharp my blade was until Isaac used it to stab me in the back.

I met Isaac Faulk during the Whitmore High School riot two years ago. Isaac, with his towering build and eyes the color of smoldering ash, immediately caught my eye as a potential ally. After the ice melt and the flooding, my mother and I knew we wouldn't survive in this environment without a man around. Isaac fit the description, but he was intimidating.

He didn't look totally scary; at least not at first glance. The scariness came from the darkness that dwelled in his eyes and the hard shadows and lines of his young face. He was hungry in every way.

He arrived at Whitmore High School alone, but he made friends immediately. My mother and I, mostly I, studied him from a distance.

"Nada, you shouldn't stare. It makes people uneasy," my mother said, as she cleaned the festering wound on her thigh.

During the flood, a broken tree branch gored my mother in the thigh. The wound had begun to heal nicely after a few weeks at Whitmore, but an infestation of bedbugs had re-infected the wound. She had been nursing it for more than six weeks now and growing weaker by the day.

"I'm not staring," I insisted, as I took the aloe from her hand and closed the jar. "This stuff's not working, Mom. You need antibiotics."

"They'd sooner give us a knife in the gut," my mother muttered as she leaned against the wall of the cafeteria and closed her eyes as she fiddled with the ruby pendant on her necklace. The last remnant of her life with my father.

_They'd sooner give us a knife in the gut._

My mother was referring to the twenty or so hulking young men who lurked in the corner of the cafeteria all day. They called themselves the Guardians. They claimed to guard the Whitmore High School community from those who wished to take an extra scoop of beans in the lunch line or outsiders who tried to raid the auditorium, which doubled as a storage room for all the food and supplies. But Mother and I knew better.

The Guardians wanted to gather enough men in their gang to take over Whitmore and keep all the food and supplies to themselves. Hallie Glover had whispered this information to me in the lunch line two days ago. I hadn't seen Hallie since.

The Guardians probably dropped her over the cliffs into the rising waters over what used to be Los Angeles. L.A. and everything I loved and hated about the city was under a hundred feet of ocean. The Hollywood sign made it out almost completely unscathed by what is now referred to as "The Event".

Of course, that wasn't the official name of the storm that Dr. Bradford Pike predicted twelve years earlier. With everything either frozen, under water, burned to dust, or deserted, nothing was official anymore.

As the atmosphere grew more toxic and the polar ice melted into the oceans, the water levels rose gradually for about forty years. It wasn't a huge concern until Dr. Pike discovered a way to measure tectonic plate pressure. His discovery led to more and more research and evidence that predicted rapidly cooling oceans could increase the stress on tectonic plates and set off an unstoppable chain of biblical flooding, earthquakes, super volcanoes, and monstrous blackout storms caused by volcanic ash. His research was criticized as sensationalism and buried by the very government agencies that were supposed to promote environmental protection.

The wealthy abandoned America in the years before the storm. The media left, the politicians left... We were the ones left behind. The lost souls wandering a broken environment and scrapping for food, clean water, and shelter.

If you were lucky enough to find all three of those at the same time, you'd better keep it to yourself.

Despite my mom's advice, I couldn't take my eyes off him. In the light of the trash can fires and candles Isaac appeared broken. Whatever happened to him to make him seek refuge at Whitmore, it must have stripped him bare. He was exactly the kind of person I wanted with us when the Guardians took over—someone with nothing to lose.

The next morning, I approached Isaac. That's when the fragile community at Whitmore High School shattered into a million pieces.

I grabbed a green plastic plate from the rack and walked quickly to catch up with Isaac in the lunch line, passing up the breadbasket—the only decent food in the cafeteria.

"Hey," I said.

Isaac turned around and examined me from beneath the curtain of brown hair covering his eyes. "Hey."

"I... I need to talk to you."

He didn't respond or look at me as he grabbed a plastic fork as if he knew what I was going to ask and he didn't want to encourage my insanity. I had to make my plea quickly.

"I can hunt and I'm good at hiding," I whispered, as if I was on a survivalist job interview.

"That's not worth much around here. They've got enough food to last a year."

"It won't last a year and you know it."

He avoided my gaze as he grabbed a thimble-sized cup of pudding from a tray. Next to the hundred or so thimbles of pudding were trays of finger-sized peanut butter sandwiches and tiny cups of reconstituted mashed potatoes.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Isaac replied.

Though I could already taste the chocolaty pudding on my tongue, I passed up the pudding, as usual, and took a peanut butter sandwich and a heaping spoonful of beans instead. My mother needed the protein and vitamins. Once she was better, I'd have pudding every day—if the Guardians allowed it.

"You know what they're doing," I whispered, nodding toward the corner where Vic, the leader of the Guardians, watched our conversation carefully as if he could read our lips. "If you think they're going to include you, you're wrong. You're going to need me as much as we need you when you're out there without a decent rabbit or squirrel to sink your teeth into."

"Squirrel? Are you serious?" he replied with a sneer.

Then he flashed me a look. It only lasted a second, but it wasn't just any look. It was the kind of look that said, _"I know exactly what you mean and you'd better shut up before you get us both killed."_

I hung my head for a moment, ashamed of my brash behavior. It was so unlike me. Before the storm, I would have never approached someone like Isaac Faulk. Of course, before the storm I never would have killed rabbits and pigeons with my bare hands. Before the storm, I was your typical L.A. teenager with no real friends.

I had a few classmates I spoke to in English class and a Chinese immigrant I befriended in gym class. During lunch, I spent my time alone in the library or helping my old freshmen history teacher grading assignments. I was a complete social degenerate.

After the storm, I learned to speak up pretty quick. I even teamed up with a younger boy—Jared—for a while as we learned to hunt. Two weeks after meeting him, Jared was killed by a pack of coyotes. That's when we ended up at Whitmore.

It was too difficult to hunt alone.

Isaac began walking away toward the Guardians. Was he already one of them? Did they take some kind of oath? Was he about to tell them what I had just told him?

I pushed past an elderly man with a walker and tried not to drop the food on my plate as I grabbed the back of Isaac's hooded sweatshirt.

He spun around with a wild glare in his eyes. "What do you think you're doing?"

"I just want to talk," I whined with desperation. My eyes darted back and forth between the ferocious expression on Isaac's face and the suspicious glare Vic was directing at me.

Isaac grabbed my arm so hard I dropped my plate of food. "Get out of here," he said, pulling me toward the cafeteria entrance.

"You're hurting me!" I cried, trying to wrench my arm free as crowds of onlookers gawked at me.

"You need to get out of here," he said, pushing me out of the cafeteria. "Go back to your room."

"I just wanted to talk to you," I replied, trying to hold back the tears welling up in my eyes. "That's all I wanted."

Something changed in his face. I couldn't tell if Isaac felt guilty or if he pitied me for being so pathetic. "Go to your room, Nada."

He disappeared into the cafeteria leaving me in the hallway with no food or hope. As I turned to leave, someone placed a hand on my shoulder. I whipped my head around, certain it would be Isaac coming back to apologize, but it wasn't. It was Vic.

He clasped his freakishly large hand around my throat and shoved me against the lockers. I couldn't breathe as he pressed his weight against me. Tears spilled from my eyes as my throat closed.

"What are _you_ up to?" he said, his nostrils flaring as he pressed his face against mine.

His face swam in my vision. I tried to speak but nothing came out.

He threw back his bald head and laughed. "What's the matter? I thought you wanted to talk."

My tongue swelled inside my mouth. It felt as if a thousand needles were pushing my eyeballs out of their sockets. My hands were getting cold. Screams and chants filled the halls, but I couldn't make any of it out.

As the blackness began to close in, Vic let go. I crumbled to the floor in a heaping mess of tears and gasps. I tried to fight the blackness closing in, to lift my head, but the cold sensation spread from my hands to my arms then throughout my entire body. The blackness won.

"Drink some water."

I woke with a headache the size of L.A. I opened my eyes to find Isaac hovering over me. He was bleeding from a deep gash on his cheek and the hair on one side of his head was matted with more blood.

"What ha—" I couldn't finish the sentence. I grabbed my throat, which felt four sizes too big.

Isaac shook his head as he held a bottle of water to my mouth. "Don't talk. Just drink."

I tried to lift my head to see where we were, but the pain in my neck seared through every part of my body. Tears streamed from my eyes. Isaac brought the bottle of water to my lips and poured a few drops in. I tried to swallow and nearly choked.

He slipped his hand under my neck and lifted my head as I attempted to catch my breath. He brought the water bottle to my mouth again as he held my head up. I could smell the woodsy scent of sweat mingled with the sweet metallic scent of blood on him as he watched me take a sip of water.

With my head lifted I could see we were in a cave with a small fire burning near the entrance. "Where are we?" I whispered. "Where's my mom?"

Isaac laid my head down gently on a pillow of fern fronds. He crawled to the fire and threw on a few more twigs.

I rolled gingerly onto my side. My head and vision pulsed with every aching beat of my heart. "Where is she?"

He crawled back to me and placed a blue scarf on the dirt floor in front of me. "She didn't want to come."

I stared at the scarf. "What are you talking about? What happened to her?" I cried, my throat becoming even thicker with molten tears.

"After you passed out, they torched the school."

"Who? The Guardians?"

Isaac nodded. "I carried you all the way to your room, but your mother didn't want to come. Her leg was too bad... I couldn't carry you both."

The pounding in my head multiplied and spread to my chest. A sob lodged in my throat as I imagined my mother being burned alive. The pounding intensified until the walls of the cave pulsed with every beat of my heart.

"Are you okay?" Isaac's voice sounded far away.

I managed a single piercing shriek of grief before I passed out again.

**CHAPTER 2**

Two years have passed since my mother burned to cinders in the ruins of Whitmore High School. Two years since Isaac saved my life. Two years living in caves in what used to be the Angeles National Forest. Two years of hunting in the forest and bartering for food and water at the trading post. Two years and two brushes with starvation later we're still running from Vic.

With the promise of shelter, security, and a never-ending supply of food and water—and a convincing arsenal of automatic weapons—the Guardians have recruited a few hundred more soldiers in California and thousands more across the country. They are the new government, which operates more like the mob and exists solely to serve itself. The tales of their spread come to us mostly through the trading post.

Without automatic weapons or easily broken promises, Isaac and I have managed to recruit two more members to our tribe: Eve and Mary. Mary likes to call us the Guardians of the Guardians. Isaac thinks it's corny, but I think it's a pretty accurate description of who we've become.

"Throw me that rope, please," Eve calls out to me from the back of the cave where she's been twisting her long, black hair around a small blade for hours. Even when she's thinking up new and sinister ways to entrap unsuspecting game, Eve never forgets to say please and thank you.

I grab the coiled rope and toss it to her. While Eve is good at trapping animals, I've gotten even better at murdering them with my bare hands. All the ballet classes my mom forced me to take before the storms are finally paying off. My ability to walk softly and twist my body into impossible positions means I can hide anywhere without making a sound. The element of surprise means everything in the wild.

I killed my first cougar three weeks ago. True, it was only a teenager, and I didn't make it out of the encounter totally unscathed, but I give myself _wilderness points_ for mastering such an awesome predator. The experience had me on an adrenaline high for days and the four of us feasted on smoked cougar jerky for weeks. Not the tastiest culinary invention, but it's packed with protein.

Mary snatches the blade from Eve and throws it at a wooden target in the corner of the cave.

"Can you please stop doing that?" Eve says much too politely.

"I have to have mah knife skills ready in case the Guardians come back," Mary replies, as she pulls the knife out of the target and drops it on the floor where Eve sits cross-legged.

When the Guardians aren't relaxing in lounge chairs on the beach of their Salton Sea compound with their guns resting on their fat bellies, they're bullying the vendors at the trading post or raiding hideouts. They've raided our cave twice in the last two months. At least we know Vic had nothing to do with either of these raids. If it were Vic, he'd have found a way to haul off the four barrels of water we have buried to ensure we were left with nothing.

"You did it again," Isaac says to Mary as he pokes the fire with a small twig.

Mary stares at him with a note of panic in her brown eyes. Her hand twitches as she tries not to cover her mouth the way she always does when she mispronounces something.

"You have to learn to say _my_ not _mah_ ," Isaac says, and I can hear the irritation in his voice. "It's been eight months. You should be rid of that stupid habit by now. You might as well wear a red armband."

The country has been divided into four sectors. Each sector is distinguished by their accents and mannerisms. Eight months ago, Mary made it here from Georgia, which is now part of the Southern Sector. The only Southerners who can roam free in the Western Sector without the risk of being killed are the Guardians. Southern Sector Guardians wear red armbands to distinguish themselves from the Western and Eastern Sector Guardians.

Mary takes a seat next to Eve and reaches for the knife again. Eve snatches it up quickly and tucks it behind her back. Mary leans against the wall of the cave and pulls her honeyed curls away from her face. The scars on the undersides of her forearms are barely visible in the dim light of the fire.

Isaac's criticism has the power to send Mary into a spiraling despair and, when she's in a tailspin, I've caught her using her carving skills on herself.

I glare at Isaac from across the fire. "You don't have to be such a jerk about it."

Isaac rolls his eyes as he springs to his feet and leaves the cave. I follow right behind him.

"I don't want to talk about it," he says before I can even say a word.

I grab his arm and pull him back toward the cave. "You can't leave without a torch."

He looks me in the eye and for a moment the hardness in his eyes wavers.

"Please don't leave without a torch," I say a bit more gently.

Isaac can be moody sometimes, but he knows me better than anyone. I can't lose him.

"Come with me," he pleads.

He holds out his hand and I take it. His hand is warm from tending the fire and it completely envelops my hand like a giant holding a sparrow. We walk for a few minutes in silence with nothing but the moonlight illuminating the forest.

"Want to go to our spot?" he asks.

Before Mary came along eight months ago, Isaac and I used to spend hours sitting and talking with our feet dangling over the cliffs. I nod and let him lead me away.

The Moon over the ocean mesmerizes me. Isaac helps me sit down so I don't slip. The grass on the edge of the cliff crunches beneath us. Isaac scoots toward me and pulls me closer. I rest my head in the crook of his neck and I feel as if I've gone back in time.

"I miss this," I whisper.

"Me, too," he says then plants a soft kiss on my forehead.

My stomach flutters with nerves and I hope the usual growls of hunger don't kick in again and ruin this moment. As this thought enters my mind, Isaac's stomach gives a loud rumble. We chuckle and sit in silence for a while.

I wake to find myself in Isaac's arms as we lay near the edge of the cliff. A peach sun is rising behind us. I want to wake him up but I don't want to startle him and send him careening off the cliff. I latch onto his arm with one hand and softly brush the hair out of his face with my other hand.

His eyes flutter open and he smiles. "Good morning, beautiful."

"Be careful getting up. You're pretty close to the edge."

He stands with ease and I immediately start back toward the cave. He grabs my hand to stop me.

"Let's get out of here. Let's go it alone again."

This is the second time this week Isaac has suggested we ditch Eve and Mary.

"I can't."

"Why?" he says. "They got along fine before us."

"You call being nearly beaten to death by grave robbers _getting along fine_?" I say, referring to the state we found Eve in. Her mother died two months ago and she had been sleeping on top of her mother's grave for a week before grave robbers assaulted her.

"Come on, she knows how to take care of herself now. And she has Mary. Together they're lethal."

Isaac is right, but I can't leave them. We're a team. We need them as much as they need us.

Isaac can see the doubt in my eyes and he pulls me closer wrapping his arms around me. I bury my face in the collar of his jacket and breathe the scent of pine and wood smoke.

"I can't," I whisper.

He sighs with frustration and kisses my forehead before he lets me go. "I know, but I had to try."

This time my stomach rumbles as we trek back to the cave. The loud crunch of a twig cracking behind us stops us in our tracks. It can only be one of three things in these woods: a bear, a cougar, or a Guardian.

Isaac glances at me from the corner of his eye. He wants me to run. We're only a hundred yards from the cave. I shake my head ever so slightly. I can ward off large predators better than Isaac. There is no way I'm leaving him to fight alone.

I try to steady my breathing and stand as straight as possible. I'm not tall, I'm almost half Isaac's size, but my only chance of surviving an attack is to make myself appear as large as possible. Before I can even turn around to face our predator, Isaac shoves me sideways.

For a brief moment, I fear Isaac has just offered me up as bait to the animal to save himself. But as my foot slips and I tumble backward I realize he's pushed me into a hole.

My fingers slash the air trying to grasp onto a branch as I fall. My back crashes into the floor of the ditch and knocks the air out of my lungs. I cough as I scramble to my feet and attempt to climb out of the hole, which I now see is at least six feet taller than me. This must be one of Eve's traps. Isaac helped her dig them weeks ago.

I can hear the guttural snarls of a cougar above me as leaves and pine needles continue to rain on my head. I want to shout and curse at Isaac for what he's done, but I don't want to anger the cougar or distract Isaac. I'm trapped and helpless; two things I haven't felt since Whitmore.

The image of my mother's charred body flashes in my mind. I curl up at the bottom of the ditch and close my eyes as I try to block out the pictures. My body is floating as the Earth sways beneath me.

I stick my head between my knees and try to block all thoughts of my mother. I try to focus on what needs to be done.

_What needs to be done?_

I'm stuck in a ditch with no way out and my best friend is about to be killed. The roaring in my ears revs angrily. I clench my jaw and my hands start to go numb. I'm not breathing.

I suck in a deep breath and the sound of Isaac's screams pierce my consciousness. I open my eyes and my chest hurts from the frantic pounding of my heart. I get to my feet and search the rough earthen walls of this animal trap. There has to be a tree root I can use to boost myself up.

My fingers claw at the soft dirt searching and digging. The screaming stops.

Everything stops. My breath, my heartbeat, my world. Gone again.

**CHAPTER 3**

I sink down and bury my head in my knees. I should have listened to Isaac. I should have gone with him. Now I'm back where I was two years ago, but without Isaac to pull me out of the hopelessness.

My hands and feet are going numb, but I don't bother fighting it. I can feel the darkness closing in on me. All my memories are rushing by like rocketing time capsules.

The night I slipped out of bed and watched my father's car drive away. I traced the pattern on the velvety sofa with my seven-year-old fingers for hours wondering if he hated the tie I made for him out of construction paper... The day my mother bought her favorite blue scarf from the old woman at the farmers' market. She told the woman it was her husband's favorite color... The first time I saw Isaac in the cafeteria at Whitmore. Dirty and emaciated, but he laughed louder than all the others...

"Whatcha doing down there?"

I look up and see the vague outline of a face peeking over the edge of the hole.

"Isaac?"

I wipe the tears from my eyes and the face comes into focus. It's not Isaac. His blonde hair is dangling from the bottom of a red baseball cap with a _B_ on the front. He reaches down to offer his hand. I allow him to pull me up.

"I'm Daedric," he says, holding out his hand.

I don't shake his hand. My eyes skim the surroundings and find a dead cougar lying ten feet from the hole. A few feet beyond I glimpse a piece of Isaac's head peeking out from beneath a pile of pine needles.

I rush to his side and scatter the pine needles. His neck is slashed open, but the cut isn't too deep. It's the gushing wound on his thigh that makes my stomach clench.

"He's not dead," Daedric calls out to me, as if this makes it better.

"He's right," Isaac whispers. "I'm not dead."

"Shut up," I say as I rip off his pant-leg and tie it around the top of his thigh.

"Hey, watch where you're putting your hands, beautiful."

"I told you to shut up. Just close your eyes," I bark at him as I attempt to prop his leg up on a tree trunk.

Isaac screams with pain as Daedric kneels next to me.

"You need help?" he asks, but he seems too eager, almost cheerful.

I need to get Isaac back to the cave. We have first-aid supplies and some antibiotics. But I don't know if I can trust this stranger.

"Are you stupid or something?" I say.

Daedric appears confused. "What?"

"Why are you wearing that stupid Red Sox cap? Are you _trying_ to get yourself killed?"

Daedric smiles. "I found it hidden in some bushes back theh with a bunch of uddah supplies. I put it on 'cause it reminds me of home. I didn't think it would mattah out hee-ah, ya know, in da forest."

Great. He's from the Eastern Sector.

"Take it off and help me carry him," I say, grabbing Isaac's feet.

"I can walk," Isaac insists as he attempts to sit up, but a wave of nausea overcomes him and he heaves bright-yellow bile onto the forest floor.

"Grab his arms," I command.

Daedric and I half carry half drag Isaac to the cave. When we enter, Eve is awake and sharpening her blade. She sees Isaac and tosses the knife aside to help us set him down next to the burned out fire.

"What happened?" she asks in her small voice.

"Cougah," Daedric replies and the shock on Eve's face at the sound of his accent is unmistakable.

I shake my head at her. "Get the medical kit."

She scrambles to the back of the cave and returns with a small first-aid kit. I throw it open and pull out a roll of bandages and some iodine. I squeeze the iodine over the gushing wound. Isaac's eyes roll back and the first thing I think of doing is rubbing his cheeks.

"Wake up!" I yell at him.

"It's shack," Daedric says.

"What does a shack have to do with this?" Mary says as she rubs the sleep from her eyes.

"Not a shack... shack. S-H-O-C-K," he replies.

Mary glares at me as if I've just invited the Guardians into our secret lair.

"He's helping me," I say to her. "Bring me that blanket."

I wrap the blanket around Isaac's upper body and continue working on his leg. We have a surgical needle and surgical thread to stitch up large cuts, but Isaac's the only one who's ever used them when he stitched a gash on Mary's hand last month.

I thread the needle quickly and ask Eve to sop up the blood with gauze as I work. The first time I try to pierce his skin with the needle I nearly pass out. It won't go through. It's dull and his leg twitches with pain. I suck it up and push it through his skin. He moans and I sigh with relief. He's still conscious.

I finish stitching and cleaning the wound before I bandage his leg. Immediately, blood seeps through the bandages. I didn't do a good job.

I move to take off the bandages but Daedric puts his hand on mine to stop me.

"It's gonna keep oozin' for a while," he says. "Don't mess wit it."

I can't help but gawk at him as if he's from another planet. "Are you _crazy_? Why do you keep talking like that?"

Daedric appears startled. "I figgahd it didn't mattah hee-ah."

"You figured it didn't matter here?" I say, trying to correct him and clarify his words at the same time. "Why would you think it doesn't matter? We have a right to kill you on the spot, you know? You're way outside your sector."

Daedric glances at Mary then back at me. "Ain't she from the South?"

Mary narrows her eyes at him as she pulls her knife from the sheath on her waist. "You want trouble, boy?" she asks, with no trace of her former accent.

"I don't want trouble," he says, pulling his hat off and hanging his head. "I just thought you all could help me find my sistah."

"You thought wrong, buddy. Now go," Mary says, pointing at the cave entrance with her blade.

Daedric rises and exits the cave looking like a lost child. I watch as he tosses the Red Sox cap into a bush and walks off toward the forest.

What am I doing? He saved Isaac's life.

"Wait!" I yell. "We'll help you find your sister."

**CHAPTER 4**

"You're not helping him," Isaac whispers.

Daedric bounds toward the cave with a spring in his step.

"Isaac's right," Eve whispers. "He could be a spy."

Daedric enters the cave and kneels next to Isaac. "He needs watuh."

"Throw me the canteen," I say and Mary tosses it to me. I lift Isaac's head and place the canteen on his lips. This is the third time in two years we've had to nurse each other back to health. "We'll help you find your sister, but not until he's better. We need him."

"But, my sis is locked up—"

"It's my terms or we don't help you. It's as simple as that."

Daedric nods and sits back at the mouth of the cave.

"And get rid of the accent, or we'll turn you in to the Guardians so fast you won't even see their boots before they stomp your head in."

It wasn't the first time I went against my better instincts, and Isaac's advice. The last time I defied Isaac we feasted on cougar jerky for weeks. I can only hope this act of defiance proves as positive.

Isaac opens his eyes for the fourth time in thirteen hours. "Nada."

I bring the canteen to his lips and he takes a few sips. "How are you feeling?" I ask, as I wipe water from the corner of his mouth.

"I had a bad dream," he whispers hoarsely. "You left me for a blonde dude."

I shoot a look at Daedric that knocks the stupid grin off his face. "Go back to sleep," I tell Isaac.

I stroke his hair until his mouth falls open. Dead with sleep.

"We need more firewood," I tell Mary. "You and Daedric go gather some."

Mary glares at me as if I've asked her to single-handedly stop the next world war. After a short staring contest, she relents and follows Daedric outside. I lay my hand on Isaac's forehead. He has a fever again. We only have four penicillin tablets left.

He wakes at my touch. "Hey, beautiful."

A wave of anger rolls through me. Why does he keep calling me that? He stopped calling me beautiful months ago, right after Mary showed up. He's probably trying to make sure I don't let him die.

"Go back to sleep," I tell him, but I don't stroke his hair this time. The helplessness of the situation is starting to set in. Isaac needs more than I can give him. If he doesn't get a full course of antibiotics soon, he could die.

This is all too familiar.

A few minutes pass and Daedric enters the cave with a bundle of small branches for the fire. He sets them on the ground and slides in next to me. "I know where you can get him some medicine," he says, his accent much less detectable after three days of lessons from Mary.

"So do I, but I can't go without Isaac."

Isaac is the talker. He always knows what to say to the dealers whenever we go to the trading post. He can talk a person into trading a gallon of water for a bunch of herbs we picked along the way. It's what he does best.

I blot the sweat from Isaac's brow and hand the damp cloth to Eve. "Daedric and I are going to the marketplace. Take care of him while I'm gone."

The straps on my backpack cut into my shoulders. I'm holding three gallons of water and Daedric has the other two. The path to the marketplace is a four-mile trek through three miles of thick forest and one overgrown valley of parched pine trees. The trading posts are hidden between two cliff-sides; a shady crevasse for shady transactions.

The scent of roasted sausage hits my nose from half a mile away. The sausage vendor lures everyone in with his deer sausage. It's a simple mixture of venison, mostly organs, with some wild onions and herbs, but it smells like heaven. He asks two gallons of water for one sausage. A sucker's bargain.

"What's that smell?" Daedric asks, lifting his nose to the air and sucking in a deep breath.

"Forget the smells and don't talk to anyone. We're here for one thing and nothing more."

The marketplace is bustling with traders today. Women and children peddling handmade blankets and scarves squeezed in next to creepy thugs trading solar-powered radios and lighter fluid. No matter what they are hawking, they only accept one form of payment: water.

Water is the new currency in the ravaged parts of the world. Isaac and I used to own a solar-powered radio. That's how we know some segments of modern society survived the storms. There are areas of Australia and Brazil where modern society remains mostly intact. But those areas are cordoned off and the space inside those communities was auctioned off to the highest bidders. They're locked down tighter than a maximum-security prison.

Then, of course, there's the underground city of Umbra in Washington D.C. where those who won the survival lottery and a few privileged Americans were welcomed before the deadliest wave of flooding and freezing hit. Umbra is run by a group of scientists and humanitarians who hope to preserve the human race. Years before the storms, they began converting the miles of underground structures beneath Washington D.C. into housing. All the entrances to these underground structures were sealed and the only people who know how to get into Umbra now are those who already live there.

Isaac and I got rid of our solar-powered radio after we realized we didn't need an announcer to tell us how little hope we had. We're aware our chances of making it past the age of twenty-one are slim. Even if twenty-one is only two years away for Isaac, at this rate he'll be lucky to survive another two weeks.

My eyes scan the marketplace looking for the longest line. The medicine man always has the longest line of patrons. He also has the most bodyguards. The black bandannas tied over their mouths and their black combat boots are standard Guardian uniforms. They stand on either side of Dr. Henry as he dispenses medicine and medical advice.

We slip into the back of the line behind more than a dozen people desperate for medication and guidance on how to care for this ailment and that injury. A young blonde woman in front of me has a festering sore on the corner of her eye oozing a thick yellowish-brown liquid. She keeps blotting it with a dirty scarf. The old man in front of her has long wiry hair, but he appears healthy. He must be here for someone else, like me.

Daedric's accent and mannerisms are a liability in the marketplace, but his ability to kill a cougar and save Isaac's life also makes him an asset in case the Guardians recognize me. He opens his mouth to say something and I shake my head to silence him.

More than an hour later, we reach the front of the line and Dr. Henry appears exhausted.

"What do you want?" he says, brushing his long brown hair out of his face. He looks more like a hippie than a doctor. Of course, most people look more like hippies than doctors these days.

I try to keep my chin tucked into my chest as I approach the doctor's table. I don't recognize the Guardians on either side of him, but there's no telling when they'll recognize me.

"I need a full course of antibiotics," I mutter, trying to force my voice deeper to disguise myself.

"Who is it for? Height, weight, age, and sex?" Dr. Henry replies.

"It's for a male, nineteen—I mean—twenty years old. He's about six-foot and 170 pounds," I say.

I'm not sure if changing Isaac's age from nineteen to twenty and taking an inch off his height will make a difference or if it will just raise their suspicions. If Isaac were here he would know what to say.

"Tablets and ointment, or just tablets?"

"Both."

"Six gallons," Dr. Henry replies.

"I have five," I reply, trying to hide the desperation in my voice.

"You can have the tablets for four."

"How many tablets are in there?"

"Standard thirty. Three tablets a day for ten days."

Isaac has already had three days of antibiotics. "How about twenty tablets and the ointment for five gallons?" I reply.

Dr. Henry shrugs. "Fine. Five gallons it is."

But Dr. Henry gives me the entire bottle of thirty tablets and the ointment for five gallons claiming he doesn't have time to take the ten tablets out of the bottle.

"Thank you so much, Dr.," I say with a bow of my head.

"Next!" he shouts and Daedric and I duck out of the marketplace without another word.

"You did pretty good back there," Daedric says when we're almost home.

"Isaac usually does all the talking. I guess I picked up some of his techniques."

"I don't think you need Isaac. You seem to do just fine without him."

"You don't know what I need," I say. "So, how did you lose your sister?"

Daedric is silent for a moment. "Salton Sea. The Guardians got her locked her up."

My heart nearly stops. I never would have agreed to help Daedric find his sister if I had known she's imprisoned at the Salton Sea.

The Salton Sea, a village surrounding a fifteen-mile-wide saline lake, is the last functioning city in the Western Sector. The water in the lake has been filtered to sustain the residents for over two years. Before the storms, the Salton Sea was a ghetto of hippies preaching against the evils of capitalism. Now it's the only sanctuary for those in the West, but no outsiders are allowed.

"How did she get in there?" I ask.

"I didn't think they'd take her," Daedric replies, the guilt in his voice is palpable. "We heard about the Salton Sea a few months ago. They said it was the safest place outside Umbra."

"You can't get into the Salton Sea," I say.

"I know that now," he replies.

"Then, how did your sister get in?"

Daedric holds out a hand to help me over a steep area of the hill we're walking on. I tread past him and grab a thick vine to pull myself up.

"Well?" I say.

"She was kidnapped," he replies.

"That doesn't make sense. Safety and population control are their first priority in the Salton Sea. They wouldn't kidnap an outsider."

Daedric walks briskly ahead of me and I jog a few paces to catch up. "They found out who she is... Actually, I told them who she is. I thought it would give us a better chance of getting in. I didn't think they would take her."

I'm not sure what Daedric is getting at, but I don't like the sound of it. I have to ask the question firing like a shotgun in my mind because he won't tell me unless I ask.

"Daedric, who exactly is your sister?"

He heaves a long sigh and stops in the middle of a clearing surrounded by soaring pines that glow with the warmth of the setting sun. "She's the illegitimate daughter of President Kane."

**CHAPTER 5**

President Edward Kane was elected three years before the event. The president before him, Horace Waters, had refused to heed the signs of impending natural disaster. He was ousted when Kane promised radical changes that would help save the environment and prevent the end of the world. It didn't take long for people to realize Kane was in way over his head—literally.

There was nothing Kane or anyone else could do. Still, it didn't stop millions of people from becoming Kane loyalists. And President Kane and his family were the first people welcomed into Umbra.

"Is this a joke, because it's not funny, at all?" I say, but I can already tell by the look on his face that he doesn't find it funny either. The stupid grin he's been sporting the past few days is gone.

We walk in silence until we reach the cave. I don't know how I'm going to tell the others what Daedric has told me. Maybe I won't need to tell them. Maybe I can back out of our deal and tell him to find someone else to help him. Maybe if Isaac could talk he would tell me that Daedric didn't even save his life. Maybe Daedric attacked Isaac and the cougar had the misfortune of getting between them.

That's way too many maybes. I decide to forget Daedric and his sister, President Kane's lovechild. I'll deal with Daedric in the morning.

After two more proper doses of penicillin, a good smattering of antibiotic ointment, and a good night's rest, Isaac is alert enough to ask for some fried cornbread. Cornmeal and water stirred up then fried in animal fat is a luxury, but it's something I can give as we still have some cornmeal and lard left in our stores.

Mary fries up the bread and I feed it to Isaac while Daedric and Eve are outside. Eve is showing Daedric how to set up a rabbit trap. I've been trying to keep Daedric occupied outside the cave in case Isaac wakes up. I don't want him to get upset at the sight of an outsider in our home. I'm not sure he remembers Daedric or the fact that Daedric saved his life.

After a few mouthfuls of cornbread Isaac is stuffed. He takes a sip of water and lays back.

"Lay with me," he whispers. "Please. I'm so cold."

I squeeze into the nook between his body and the cave wall so I'm on the side of his good leg. He holds his arm out for me and I lay my head on his shoulder. I pull the blanket up so it covers him all the way up to his chin.

He falls asleep instantly and, though I'm relieved he's getting his rest, I can't help but feel a bit claustrophobic. I try to slide out from underneath his arm, but he tightens his grip. Finally, I give in and shut my eyes.

I wake to find Daedric staring at Isaac and me from where he sits at the mouth of the cave. He turns away quickly and starts poking the fire.

It's pitch black outside. We must have slept all day. I never take naps during the day. I guess I was exhausted from the trip to the marketplace.

I try to sit up without waking Isaac but his eyelids flutter open.

"Where are you going?" he asks.

"You need your medicine."

I grab the bottle of pills and pop one in his mouth. When I hand him the canteen he grabs my hand.

He pulls me close and whispers in my ear. "Why is _he_ still here?"

I look him in the eye searching for some sign that I might be wrong about Daedric. "He saved your life."

Isaac sneers as he lays back. "It's easy to fight off a cougar with a baseball bat."

Baseball bat? That must be one of the items Daedric claims to have found with the baseball cap. So that's how he saved Isaac.

"I'll be right back," I say to Isaac.

I slip my feet into my boots and step outside into the darkness. Daedric follows me, as I expected.

"Come with me," I tell him. "Bring Eve."

Daedric and Eve meet me outside where Mary is busy gutting a rabbit they must have pulled from a trap.

"Tell them what you told me," I say to Daedric.

Without hesitation, he tells Eve and Mary everything he told me, even adding a few details about how his mother disclosed the truth about his sister's father just before she died. Eve is quiet, but I can tell this new information has only made her even more anxious. Mary, on the other hand, has a lot to say.

"I'm not going to the Salton Sea. Your sister can rot in there for all I care," she says as she cleans her knife on the dry grass.

Sometimes, I don't know if I trust Mary.

She materialized eight months ago the same way Daedric did. Isaac and I had been going it alone for over a year, and doing just fine, when Isaac shows up at the cave with Mary after a trip to the marketplace. She was clearly starving, but there was something about her I didn't trust. Isaac insisted I was paranoid. I insisted it was her proclivity for knives. I always wondered if there was more than friendship between them because everything changed between Isaac and me with Mary around—until last week.

"How about you, Eve?" I ask, as Eve tries to shrink into the forest behind us.

She steps forward and shrugs. "I don't want to go, either."

After keeping Daedric around for four days, dragging him to the marketplace, and making him help with the hunting and gathering, I would feel awful backing out on my offer to help him. But my loyalty is to our little tribe.

"We can't help you," I tell him. "I'm sorry, but it's just too dangerous."

Daedric runs his hand through his shoulder-length blonde hair as he contemplates this news. "There's somethin' else I haven't told you guys."

"Some _thing_ ," Mary corrects him and I shoot her a look. "What? He has to learn to stop dropping his g's."

"Go on," I say to Daedric.

He takes a seat on a log before he speaks. "I have something I can offer you in exchange for your help."

"Unless you're carrying a few thousand gallons of water in your pocket, I don't see what you have to offer."

"How about a few million gallons?" he replies. "I know where we can find shelter and enough food and watuh to last for years."

**CHAPTER 6**

"Elysia's father—President Kane—had a shelter built in California before he got elected," Daedric continues. "My mom was a clerk in his campaign. He took her there sometimes. A love nest or somethin'. She said it's got enough food, power, and watuh to last for years. It's right next to a lake."

"Those kinds of places don't exist anymore," Mary says as she slides chunks of rabbit meat onto skewers made from sharpened twigs. "Everything's destroyed, dried up, or ransacked."

"That's what I thought, too," he replies. "But my mom described it in so much detail. She was kind of sick, but I don't think she was that sick. She remembered everything as if she was staring at a picture right in front of her. She said those were... They were the happiest days of her life."

I try to recall the president's face in my mind. It's been almost three years since I've watched a news broadcast and even longer since I've seen President Kane. I was fourteen then, but I remember my mother saying he was handsome.

"If you know where this bomb shelter is, why did you even go to the Salton Sea?" Mary says, as she hands us each a skewer of meat and sets aside an extra skewer with the most meat for Isaac. I know she's done this because Isaac is sick and he needs it more than we do, but it doesn't stop me from imagining she's favoring him.

We move to the mouth of the cave and sit around the fire to roast our skewers.

"Elysia didn't like the idea of being alone, just me and her, for all those years," Daedric says, as he throws a small bunch of twigs onto the fire. "She wanted to see if we could get into Salton Sea or at least make a few friends first. She's pissed at Kane for not bein' around for her. The shelter was a last resort for her."

"What kind of proof do you have for any of this?" I say. "We can't risk our lives on the word of a stranger."

"Yeah, Stranger. Where's your proof?" Isaac's voice calls from the back of the cave startling Mary so much she drops her skewer of meat into the fire.

I snatch it up quickly and hand it back to her.

"Sorry," she says.

Isaac is sitting up and appears more alert than ever.

"You hungry?" I ask him and he nods.

I grab the extra skewer and hold it over the fire with my free hand as Mary wipes the black ashes off her meat.

"You heard everything?" Daedric asks though he doesn't look at Isaac.

"I heard enough," Isaac replies. "Where's this secret shelter you're talking about?"

"Well, if I told you then—"

"Yeah, that line's not going to work with me. Where is it?" Isaac demands.

Daedric bites off a chunk of rabbit meat and chews it slowly. "A couple hundred miles north of Yosemite. The volcanoes haven't touched it."

I take a bite of my meat as I wait for Isaac's to finish cooking. Rabbit is my favorite game meat. I haven't had chicken since Whitmore, and even then it was canned chicken. Rabbit is the closest thing to what I remember chicken tasting like. I finish my skewer and crawl to Isaac to hand him his.

He stares into my eyes as I hand him the meat. He wants to say something but he's holding back because we're not alone—probably something about Daedric.

I turn around and crawl back to the fire.

"Nada?" he calls.

"I'll be right back," I say, as I stand and leave the cave in a hurry.

Daedric follows me into the forest. "You shouldn't be out here this late."

He sounds like me whenever Isaac storms off in the middle of the night. "I'll be fine. I'm good at hiding. Go back to the cave."

"If it's all right with you, I'll tag along," he says. "The atmosphere in there is a little intense for me right now."

We walk in silence for a few moments with Daedric following one step behind me. Somehow, we end up at the cliff. Me and Isaac's spot. Isaac once told me we stopped going to the spot once Mary came along because he didn't trust her enough to stand next to a cliff with her.

I step closer to the edge and Daedric grabs my arm.

"What are you doing?" he says.

The smell of the ocean carries on the wind and lifts the hair away from my face. I close my eyes and breathe it in.

"I'm just taking it in," I say. "Do you mind?"

He releases my arm and I take my usual seat on the edge of the cliff. Daedric hesitates for a moment before he sits next to me.

"My cousins and I used to jump off the cliffs in Maine in the summah," he says. "I mean, summ _er_."

The reflection of the Moon on the ocean is dim. The water must be really choppy tonight. I gaze below me. The water crashes and explodes against what used to be another level on the side of the cliff. Now the rising sea has claimed this cliff and transformed it into ocean rocks.

"How do we know we can trust you?" I say.

Daedric stares at me and I hold his gaze. "Because I need you more than you need me."

Something about the way he says this makes me uneasy. I've never been comfortable needing anyone until Isaac and I became a team. After my dad left, I became my own father figure. I learned to fix my own bicycle and I became an expert at repairing leaky faucets. The idea that someone other than Isaac could need me feels strange.

"So... Are you and that Isaac dude together, or somethin'?"

"Some _thing_ ," I correct him, though it's really a stall tactic. "No, we're not. He's my best friend."

At least I think that's what he is.

"Good," he says.

"What does that mean?"

"Nothin', I just... I think you're pretty... nice."

"Pretty _nice_?" I reply. "Is that supposed to impress me?"

He chuckles. "Nah, I just like you. You seem like you got a good heart. That's all."

I can't help but smile. After my dad left, my grades started dropping. Whenever my aunts and uncles asked how I was coping, my mom never told them I was failing, but she always made a point of telling everyone I had a good heart.

"Thanks," I say.

He stands and holds out a hand to help me up. When I rise, we come face to face and I can't help but stare at the way the moonlight reflects off his green eyes. He leans forward and his lips touch mine ever so softly. I taste charred meat and back away instantly.

I turn to leave and notice Eve standing at the top of the hillside staring at us.
**CHAPTER 7**

"Isaac sent me to get you," she says as I approach her. "I'm sorry. I wasn't spying on you."

"You don't have to be sorry. You didn't see anything."

I continue walking back to the cave, trying to ignore the confused expression on Eve's face. Though she's extremely anxious and a bit too polite sometimes, Eve is not stupid. I don't worry she'll tell Isaac. I worry she'll stop trusting me.

"You were looking for me?" I say as I enter the cave and kick off my boots.

I sit down in the corner of the cave opposite Isaac and pick up a book to pretend to read.

I can feel Isaac staring at me. "I need you to help me with my bandage."

I throw the book down and crawl to him. "Sorry. I totally forgot."

I begin peeling off the old bandages and he winces. The bandage is stuck to the outer edge of the wound. I didn't apply enough cream last night.

"Sorry," I say. It's all I can say.

"What were you doing out there?" he asks as I flush the wound with more iodine. "Be careful with that!"

I've accidentally poured iodine all over his crotch.

"I'm sorry," I say, trying to soak it up with the used bandage.

He laughs and grabs my hand. "Hey! Don't do that. You're making it worse."

The sly grin on his face makes me want to throw up. I set the ointment and the clean bandages on the ground and stand.

"I'm sorry."

"Yeah, you've said that a million times. What's going on?"

I glance at Daedric. He's leaning against the mouth of the cave with his eyes closed.

"I'm fine," I say as I sit back down and finish bandaging his thigh. "I'm just a little freaked out about this whole thing."

I pull the blanket over Isaac as he lies down. "Come here," he says, beckoning me to his side.

Isaac and I used to sleep like this every night. It was one of the things I missed the most after Mary arrived. So why do I suddenly feel as if I'm being forced to lay with him?

"I'm going to read a little first," I say, as I move toward the other corner of the cave.

His face is chockfull of rejection, but I pretend not to notice as I open the book and commence staring at the words on the page.

I wake hours before sunrise shivering and curled up around my book. I can barely make out the outline of Isaac's face through the darkness. Is that sweat glistening on his brow?

I crawl quietly to his side and place my hand on his forehead. He's burning up. I pull the blanket off his torso and pull up his shirt to cool him down.

"Hey, you didn't have to wait for me to fall asleep," he mutters, half-asleep and still able to make me blush.

He grabs my hand off his chest and pulls me toward him. His lips are dry with dehydration, but his kiss is gentle; first on the top of my cheek then he moves his way down to my jaw.

Isaac and I have only kissed twice, and the second time we swore it would never happen again.

His breath is hot as he kisses the corner of my lips. He doesn't taste like charred meat. This thought makes my stomach swell with nausea and I pull away in time to throw up on the dirt floor next to him.

I taste the charred rabbit meat mingled with sour bile on my tongue as one more heaving wave of vomit streams from my mouth. Isaac doesn't even attempt to scoot away. He sits up and pulls my hair back as the puddle of vomit seeps into his blanket.

I'm shaking and sweaty as I sit back and wipe my mouth. Everybody's awake now and though I can't see their faces through the darkness I can feel their eyes on me.

I grab Isaac's soiled blanket to mop up the mess then I throw him my clean blanket as I scramble to my feet. "Don't cover your whole body. You have a fever."

I watch the sunrise from the roof of the cave while my stomach gurgles and clenches. I don't know if it's nerves, hunger, or food poisoning from the meat, but it's probably a combination of all three. Mostly nerves.

Isaac's head peeks out from the mouth of the cave and I almost blurt another apology, but I stop myself.

"What are you doing out here?" I say, sounding more annoyed than concerned.

He turns around and grins at me. "Hey, Mount Vesuvius."

"You should be lying down."

"That makes two of us," he says. "Can you please come down? I feel like I'm at a bit of a disadvantage here."

That makes two of us.

I jump down and immediately try to usher him back into the cave. He resists and ends up falling on his butt.

"What are you doing?" I yell at him.

He grits his teeth against the pain. "Just help me up."

I pull him upright and he hobbles away toward the forest. I follow him because I know there's nothing I can do to stop him.

"Where are you going, gimpy?" I shout.

He chuckles as he takes a seat on a fallen pine tree. "I had to get out of there. It wreaks of dead rabbit, and it's even worse now."

I ignore the jab and take a seat next to him. "Did you take your medicine?"

"Can we please stop focusing on me for one damn second?" he replies.

I don't say anything. My face is expressionless. This is a look I've perfected: calm and completely unfazed by the madness surrounding me.

"Don't start that, Nada."

I had a crush on a boy in seventh grade. Chad Robinson. I overheard him make a joke about my slanted eyes during gym class. I never spoke to him again during art class. A couple of months later, I found out the silent treatment had worked. Chad asked me to the Winter Formal. It never felt so good to reject someone.

"Fine. Don't say anything. Just listen," Isaac continues. "I should be well enough to leave this hell hole in about three days. I want you to come with me."

I shake my head. "I'm not going anywhere with you," I say. "We're going to help Daedric find his sister. We can't stay here and keep fighting off mountain lions and bears for the rest of our lives."

He leans in and whispers in my ear. "You won't even consider it?"

"No."

He traces the edge of my face with his fingertips and plants a soft kiss on my chin. I turn my head away.

"Why are you doing this?" I ask. "Are you trying to manipulate me?"

He sits back on the log and gazes out across the small clearing at a squirrel flitting about another log.

"I don't have much time left."

"Your leg is healing fine."

"I'm not talking about my leg."

Isaac's face takes on the same flat expression I've mastered.

"What are you talking about?"

"I did something bad," he says. "I... I can't tell you what I did, but you need to believe me when I say we have to get out of this area—soon."

"Is it Vic?"

He nods and I realize our little trip to the Salton Sea just got even more dangerous. Suddenly Isaac's proposal doesn't sound so rash.

"Come with me?" he whispers.

I search his eyes for a trace of untruth. Isaac's left eyebrow almost always twitches when he's lying. Almost always. At the moment, it's as steady as the despair surrounding us.

"I will," I say, and his face lights up. "But only if this shelter thing doesn't work out."

He sighs. "Alright. I'll take that."

This time I lean in and kiss him on the cheek. He has patches of hair growth on his cheeks since he hasn't shaved in a week.

He takes my hand and places it on his chest. "You feel that?"

His heart thumps against my fingertips.

"It's yours. Be careful with it."

I laugh out loud. "You are _so_ corny it's disgusting."

"Are you laughing at me, Mt. Vesuvius?" he says as he pulls me into a playful headlock.

"Everything okay?" Daedric's voice calls from across the clearing.

Isaac lets me go and I smooth my hair as I sit up straight. Mary stands next to Daedric glaring at me. No, it's not my imagination. If looks could kill, I'd be gutted and skewered by now.

**CHAPTER 8**

Three days later, I wake to find Mary staring at me. We didn't have enough water to wash Isaac's blanket, so I've been sharing mine with him.

"Good morning," I say, my voice thick with sleep.

"Good mornin', beautiful," she says, grinning as she sharpens her knife.

I smile back at her. "You have some _thing_ you want to say to me?"

She shakes her head. "I've got nothin'... Nada."

Mary's Southern accent creeps through when she's upset. She flips the blade closed and tosses it to me.

"That ones yours," she says, and I realize she's been sharpening _my_ blade; the one with the jade handle my mother gave me shortly after we arrived at Whitmore.

It's an unspoken rule that we each sharpen our own blades.

I flip the blade open and sit mesmerized as the light reflects off the tip. Isaac wakes and grabs the blade from my hand. He flips it closed and pulls me tighter to him. I can feel Mary's eyes burning a hole through Isaac straight into the back of my head.

Though Mary is the last person in this cave I want to anger, I lay with Isaac a bit longer. I don't want her to think she's gotten the better of me with her intimidation tactics.

When I get up, Eve and Daedric are just getting back from setting more traps. Daedric sees me as I step out of the cave and tosses me a bunch of wild onions.

"Fry them up with the pigeon eggs," he orders as he shoves past me.

Eve looks at me with a twinge of pity in her crystal-blue eyes.

"Watch where you're going," I shout back at him as he enters the cave.

"You need some help?" Eve asks me.

"Sure," I say, though I usually refuse help with menial tasks like cooking and cleaning. I need the company. I need to know that not everyone in this tribe hates me.

We chop the onions and whip up the eggs in silence. Though Eve's hands are trembling, as usual, the occasional smile she tosses my way seems genuine.

"Can I ask you something?" I ask.

Eve lowers her head. "Yes?"

I glance back at the cave to make sure we're alone. "Have Isaac and Mary ever... been together?"

Eve's hands tremble more violently and she nicks her finger with the knife. I grab her hand and wrap the cuff of my sweater around the cut.

"You okay?"

She nods though it's evident her anxiety level is skyrocketing.

I didn't know Eve before we found her bloody and beaten next to her mother's ransacked grave two months ago. I don't know if she's always been this anxious. I do know the thing that calms her the most is when I hold her.

I pull her close. "I'm sorry. You don't have to answer that."

The violent tremble in her bones relaxes to an occasional shudder.

"Yes," she whispers.

We pack our backpacks to head out: water, blankets, rabbit jerky, a blade, lighter fluid, and matches. Mary takes three blades: small, medium, and machete. Eve takes some leather straps, a toolkit, and a bundle of twigs for making traps. Daedric finds the baseball bat he left in the woods. Isaac packs a compass and his wits.

We stop to let Isaac rest his leg every one or two miles, depending on the terrain. He tries to hold my hand twice, but I keep rejecting him.

"You're not going to make this easy, are you?" he says, as we approach a dry bed of rocks, which used to be a stream.

I reach my hand out to help him across, but he doesn't take it. A tinkling chuckle assaults my ears. Isaac glances back at Mary behind us. I can't tell if he's annoyed or embarrassed. He grabs my hand so I can help him out of the bed of rocks.

After six hours of rough forest terrain, we stop to rest for the night in the umbrage of an ancient oak tree.

"So, what's the plan if we run into the Guardians?" Mary says as she tucks in under her blanket.

Isaac flashes me a look before he answers. "What we always do: we let Nada fight them off."

"Yeah, I'm actually being serious," Mary replies and I can hear the sneer in her voice.

She may be lethal with a knife, but I've got her beat in hand-to-hand combat.

Eve lays her blanket down next to Isaac and me. "I brought a slingshot," she says.

"That will do a lot of good against their assault rifles," Daedric says.

I smile at Eve. She hardly contributes to our conversations. She's always afraid she's going to say the wrong thing.

"A sling shot is still better than a bat," I say, as I slither in under the blanket next to Isaac.

He slips his icy hand underneath my shirt and I jump. "What are you doing?"

"Just trying to warm up my hand."

"Oh," I say and I lay back down.

He traces the outline of my bellybutton with his fingertip and I try not to laugh. His fingers slide over my ribs and I grab his hand to stop him.

"Good night," I whisper, my signal I've had enough.

"Good night, beautiful."

**CHAPTER 9**

When I wake, Isaac and Mary are gone.

"Isaac needed to stretch his leg," Eve whispers next to me. "She offered to go with him."

Eve's still tucked under her blanket as if she's been waiting in this exact position for me to open my eyes so she can blurt these words.

"Thanks," I whisper.

Isaac and Mary arrive minutes later, her face flushed with either exhaustion or exhilaration. Isaac offers me a hand to help me up from where I'm sitting under the tree, but I push myself up on my own.

I hand him his piece of rabbit jerky and his backpack. "Let's go."

I walk a few paces ahead of Isaac, closer to Daedric and Eve, for over an hour. When we stop to rest at the foot of the valley, Isaac glares at me from where he sits atop a small boulder. Everybody notices the tension between us.

I throw down my backpack and curl up against the trunk of a pine tree. Eve sits cross-legged a few feet away from me.

"Remember when you caught that possum in your trap and it nearly bit your finger off," I say to her.

She smiles and nods. "I thought I was going to die. My mom told me possums carry diseases."

"My mom told me the same thing," I say.

For a moment, Eve and I sit in silence thinking about our moms. Then I think of Mary. Her mother didn't die in the storm. She died when Mary was a baby. Her father abandoned her during the storm. The only reason I know this about Mary is because she confided in Isaac and Isaac told me. At the time he was using it to explain her intolerable attitude. I still don't find this a convincing excuse. I'm the only one of us who can relate to the feeling of rejection from being abandoned by a father. Eve's father died during the flooding while attempting to save Eve's little brother. I know this because Eve told me herself. I guess my tragedy résumé just wasn't impressive enough for Mary to confide in me.

I glance at Isaac and he's still glaring at me while Mary sits at his feet combing her fingers through her hair. I look around and find Daedric sitting alone on the other side of the pine tree.

"Daedric, how did you get all the way here from the Salton Sea?" I ask. "Weren't you ever attacked by thugs or Guardians?"

Daedric scoots around the pine tree so he can see me better. "I got mugged by scavengers twice," he says. "I didn't have much for them to take, so they let me off easy. How about you?"

"What about me?"

"You ever been attacked?"

I glance at Isaac and think of the day he saved me when Vic nearly choked the life out of me. "Yeah... but I'm still here."

We finally reach the residential streets where the charred, looted remains of sprawling estates litter the hillsides. Squatting in empty houses was dangerous a year ago when there were still a few things left to steal, but everything's gone or burned to a crisp now. We find a large home that's only half-burned to the ground and camp out for the night.

We lay our blankets down in what used to be a dining room. A gaping hole in the vaulted ceiling marks the place where looters ripped out the chandelier and the electrical wiring. I sit next to Isaac and we stare at each other for a moment before we lie down.

He doesn't wrap his arms around me. He just lies on his back and stares at the ceiling.

I'm the first to wake so I start divvying out the rations of jerky. A soft whimpering behind me draws my attention. Daedric must be having a nightmare.

"Please don't take her," he mutters in his sleep. "Please... please..."

He wakes with a start and we lock eyes. He ruffles his golden hair and rubs his face to wake himself up.

"Bad dream," he says, as he grabs a piece of jerky.

"My sister used to have nightmares," I whisper, and I realize I'm talking about my sister for the second time in four years. I've only ever spoken to Isaac about her once.

Lara was shot during one of the many burglaries on our home the year before the storm. After the first burglary, she began having nightmares about drowning, which I dismissed as a side-effect of reading her favorite undersea adventure one too many times. She was just ten years old and she understood what was coming better than I did.

"Elysia's never been alone and now... who knows what they're doing to her," he says.

It's been a long time since I've allowed myself to feel anger for something so utterly hopeless and unchangeable, but I can't help it now. The world may never be the way it once was, and the thought of it fills me with rage.

Isaac's eyes flutter open and I hand him his jerky. He tosses it aside and pulls me close to him. "I'm sorry," he whispers in my ear.

The rage subsides and my eyes well up. A tear falls onto Isaac's arm and he sits up to get a better view of my face.

"What's wrong?"

I want to tell him about Lara. I want to thank him for saving my life two years ago. But most of all, I want to thank him for bringing me back to life when I had nothing to live for.

Instead, I pull him toward me and kiss him hard. He seems surprised at first, but he quickly gives in, his tongue moving slowly inside my mouth.

He pulls away and stares at me as if my face is covered in green spots.

"What?" I ask.

He plants a kiss on my forehead. "Nothing."

We make it to what used to be Burbank Airport. All the planes were evacuated long before the storm, so all that remains are the gutted terminals and runways overgrown with weeds. We strut down the runway like rustic supermodels, though Daedric is probably the only one pretty enough to pass for one. We've been lucky not to run into anyone so far, but I have a feeling our luck is about to run out.

A plume of smoke rises behind an empty hangar and I stop in the middle of the runway. Everyone else stops behind me.

"It could be Guardians," Mary says. "We should go back."

"She's right," I say, trying not to look at Isaac. "We can't risk it."

Daedric continues toward the hangar. "We don't got time. We already wasted enough time at that damn cave."

"We don't _have_ time," Mary corrects him.

Isaac's pride kicks in and he walks on. "He's right. We're running out of time. They've had her for over a week. That's a long time to figure out how to leverage her."

Mary shakes her head. "Idiots," she mutters.

We approach the hangar slowly.

"Nada, you stay with me," Isaac whispers. "You three go around that way and we'll check out this side. We'll all meet here to report back on what we see."

"Why do _you_ get Nada?" Mary asks.

"Because she's the best," Isaac replies, and I want to either disappear or slug him in the face.

Mary skulks off with Daedric and Eve. As soon as they round the corner of the building, I punch Isaac in the arm.

"Ow! What the hell!"

"Stop being a jerk."

We tiptoe to the corner of the building and peek around. I can glimpse the glow of the fire near the rear of the building, but I can't see anyone.

"How's your leg?" I whisper, in case we need to run.

"Right now, better than my arm."

We move closer to the source of the light trying to stay conscious of the dry weeds beneath our feet. I can hear voices now.

"I couldn't believe he said that," says a girl with a gravelly voice. "He actually wanted me to do that for two freaking bottles of water."

"What did you tell him?" asks a deep male voice.

"I didn't say anything. I punched him in the sack and got the hell out of there."

These aren't Guardians. If she were a Guardian, she wouldn't need to trade anything and she would have shot the guy. This doesn't change the fact they could still be dangerous. Our best bet was to let Isaac work his charm.

We head back to the other side of the hangar and the other three already back.

"They're scavengers," Isaac says. "I don't know how many there are, but they won't try anything if they know we're willing to trade."

"We don't got enough water to trade," Daedric says.

"We don't have a choice," Isaac replies, ignoring Daedric's poor grammar.

Together we scrounge up three gallons of water we can trade. Isaac holds two gallons in one hand and I hold the other.

"Don't say anything," I say to Daedric.

We approach slowly until we can see the entire group. There are eight of them: three girls and five guys. Only one of the guys appears strong enough to take us. The rest of them look like they're about to dissolve from thirst and hunger.

Isaac walks ahead of me holding up the two bottles of water. "Good evening," he says and my shoulders tense at the surprised expressions on the scavengers' faces.

I think they're more afraid of us, except the big guy. He stands from his lawn chair and immediately pulls a knife from his pocket.

"Just looking for a trade, gentlemen," Isaac says, and I fear he's being too chummy for his own good. "We've got water and rabbit jerky, if you're interested."

"What is he doing?" Daedric whispers behind me.

A skinny girl with a shaved head stands and looks Isaac up and down. "What do you want, cutie?" she says and I recognize her gravelly voice.

She was at Whitmore two years ago.

"What do you have, Amy?" I say. "We have three gallons."

She throws a look at the big guy with the knife and he sits down and lays his knife on his lap. "We've got soap," she says. "A whole hangar full of soap. Nobody gives a damn about hygiene nowadays."

"Ten bars for two gallons?" Isaac replies, setting the two gallons of water at her feet.

"Deal. What else do you have?"

Ten minutes of negotiations later, we leave the airport with ten bars of soap, a candle, and two pounds of almonds exchanged for three gallons of water and a pound of jerky.

"Have you seen any Guardians come through here?" Isaac asks after we've packed our bounty.

"We haven't been raided for weeks," the girl replies. "It's summer. They're too busy getting baked on the shores of the Salton Sea."

We find an abandoned McDonald's with all the windows boarded up. As we lay out our blankets, Isaac grabs my hand and leads me into the kitchen area.

"I got those almonds just for you," he says with a grin. "I've noticed you trying to choke down that jerky."

"Thanks."

"I have something else for you," he says, and he reaches into his pocket and holds out his balled fist.

"What is it?"

He opens his hand slowly and my body goes cold as all the blood rushes to my head.

I wake with four faces staring down at me.

"Are you okay?" Eve asks in a small voice.

I nod and realize my head is resting in Isaac's lap. I sit up and the candlelight swims in my vision.

The necklace. My mother's necklace. The ruby set inside the gold pendant in the shape of an _S_... _S_ for Sara. Vic ripped it off my neck the day he almost killed me. I didn't know until I woke up in the cave with Isaac.

How did Isaac get it back? Where did he get it? Is this why Vic is after him?

Isaac knows I'm trying to work this all out in my mind. "You need to lay down," he says. "The bed is made behind you."

My blanket and Isaac's pillow are laid neatly in the middle of the McDonald's dining area. I lay down and watch as Isaac sits in the corner of the restaurant with his leg propped on a table.

We make it through old Pasadena and Covina in one day. The following day we make it to the old farms in Chino. The smell of cow manure is long gone with the cows.

"Are you going to say anything about the necklace?" Isaac whispers when we reach highway 15, which will take us straight to the Salton Sea.

We won't run into the Guardians out here. We're too far from what used to be L.A. and too far from the Salton Sea. We won't need to worry about running into them for another thirty miles or so. It's a small relief.

"How did you get it?" I ask. "Please tell me you traded someone for it."

"You know that's impossible," he says. "Are you not happy? I got it for you."

"That necklace isn't worth your life," I say.

He reaches into his pocket and pulls it out. He places it in my hand. "Do whatever you want with it. I just wanted you to have it."

We walk for a while before I hand it back to him. "Can you put it on me?"

**CHAPTER 10**

Daedric eyes my necklace from across the fire. "Fancy," he remarks.

I tuck the necklace under my shirt.

Mary is sharpening her knives again and Eve is off somewhere setting up traps. We've set up camp in the forest near Lake Elsinore. The lake is dry, but there's plenty of game in this area due to the ponds and streams in the higher altitudes—and the lack of humans.

"We should stay here a few days to regroup," Isaac suggests. "We're running low on food and water."

Daedric doesn't appear too jazzed about this, but he doesn't object. "Two days should be enough."

"Why didn't you tell me about Mary?" I whisper to Isaac as we lay together gazing at the stars.

He turns onto his side to look at me. "Because it wasn't anything. It doesn't matter. She doesn't matter."

"You're so full of crap."

" _I'm_ full of crap?" Isaac shoots back. "You're the one who made me swear never to kiss you again. What was I supposed to think? What was I supposed to do?"

"I don't know, but I didn't think you would start hiding stuff from me. We're supposed to be best friends."

"You've always been more than a best friend to me and you know it. That's why I couldn't tell you. Besides, there wasn't anything to tell."

"That's not what it looks like," I say with a glance in Mary's direction. "Have you seen the way she looks at me?"

"Have you seen the way Daedric looks at _me_? The guy's got it bad for you."

"We're talking about Mary."

"Forget about her," Isaac whispers, and in one swift motion he reaches around and turns me toward him.

His breath tickles the top of my nose. He puts his hand on the small of my back and pulls my body against his. I can smell the new soap he used to wash up. His lips graze mine and a shudder passes through me. I reach up, placing my hand on the back of his head, and I pull him closer.

His fingers move in light circles over my back as we kiss. His hand slides forward caressing my ribs as he kisses my neck. I know we should stop, but I don't want to.

His hand moves up and slides underneath my bra. I suck in a deep breath as he kisses me more urgently. He moves his hand down my belly and under the waist of my pants. I grab his hand.

"Stop," I whisper.

"Why?" he asks, as he kisses my ear.

"Just stop," I say, pushing him off me.

"Sorry," he says. "I guess I got a little carried away."

Is that what happened with him and Mary?

"It's okay," I say, as I turn around and lay down.

I can feel him adjusting his crotch behind me before he lies down.

"Good night, Nada," he whispers in my ear.

"Good night, Isaac," I say, as I twist my finger around the ruby pendant.

The traps are empty, so I catch two squirrels and one rabbit with my bare hands. Mary slices the meat razor thin and we have more jerky within hours. As we're packing up the meat, Mary glances at my neck and snickers.

I look down thinking she's laughing at my necklace, but it's tucked inside my shirt.

"What so amusing?"

"Nice hickey," she says with a smirk.

I touch my hand to my neck, but I don't feel anything.

"I guess Isaac had fun last night," she continues. "Did he draw circles on your back?"

I want to smack the stupid grin off her face, but this would just play into her game.

"As a matter of fact, he did," I reply. "It was so relaxing I almost forgot where we were."

"I'll bet it was," she says, as she gets up and storms off with her backpack.

This is not what I want. Though Mary and I were never close, I don't want this animosity between us; especially not over Isaac.

I jog to catch up with her. "Mary, I'm sorry," I say. "I don't mean for any of this to hurt you."

"I don't know what you're talking about," she says as she pulls her honey-colored curls into a ponytail.

"You know what I'm talking about," I say. "I know about you and Isaac."

"Look, Nada. Isaac told me to keep my mouth shut and that's what I'm doing."

"You don't have to keep your mouth shut," I say, glancing back at Isaac.

"Yes, I do."

"Why?"

"Because he used me, that's why," she says. "Once he figured out where Vic kept that stupid necklace, he realized he had a way to get you back and he didn't need me anymore."

The pain in her voice makes my throat swell. "I'm sorry."

"Why are you apologizing? It's all my fault."

I glance back. Isaac is catching up to us. "What do you mean?" I ask.

She shakes her head. "He told me he was in love with you," she says. "That's why you could never find out about us. He told me... He said as soon as he figured it out, he was going to get you back. And he did."

"He told you that?"

"Told you what?" Isaac says as he pulls up next to me.

Mary slows her pace so she can walk next to Eve.

Isaac shoots her a glare that chills my blood. "What did she tell you?" he asks me.

I can't even look at him. According to Mary, he used her like a disposable cup. When there was nothing left, he threw her away.

"What did she tell you?" he demands.

I shake my head in disgust and disbelief. "I always knew you could be a jerk, but I never expected you to be a total jerk."

"What? Did she lie to—"

I put up my hand to stop him. "Don't talk to me."

**CHAPTER 11**

Isaac insists I can take back my blanket and he'll sleep alone, but I sleep with Eve instead. I'm feeling good about my ability to ignore Isaac until Eve's trembling and twitching keeps me awake the entire night.

In the morning, the traps are empty again, but I don't have the strength to hunt.

"It's my fault, isn't it?" Eve says, as we gather and break down the traps to pack them up. "You should sleep with Mary tonight... or Daedric."

Though Mary and I share a strange bond now, I still can't look her in the eye. I keep imagining Isaac drawing circles on her bare back.

By the end of the day, we enter Hellhole Palms: Guardian territory. Just forty miles of California desert separate us from the Salton Sea now. We decide to camp out as long as it takes to develop a strategy.

Daedric unrolls his blanket onto the grass on the hillside. Isaac's eyes follow me as I approach Daedric.

"Do you think I could... sleep with you tonight?" I say. "I need to get some rest so I can hunt tomorrow."

Daedric glances at Isaac then back at me. "You sure about that? I don't want to piss anyone off."

"He's all bark," I reply. "So, do you mind?"

Daedric lifts his blanket for me to squeeze in next to him. He picked a good spot to lie down. The ground gives slightly beneath my weight and I fall asleep instantly.

When I wake, Daedric is gone and Isaac is sitting at my feet staring at me. The instant I sit up he walks away.

Daedric comes back with a tiny bundle of twigs for the fire. "Slim pickings around here without a saw," he says, as he throws the wood down. "You up for some huntin' today?"

If it weren't for the awful accent, Daedric would fit right in here. The shoulder-length blonde hair, the golden tanned skin, gorgeous green eyes... He could be a model for surf gear in the former California.

"What?" he says, and I realize I've been staring at him.

"I have to hunt alone, so I don't scare off the game," I say. "But if you want you can follow a couple hundred yards behind me and I'll catch up with you when I'm done."

"Sounds like a plan," he says.

From my backpack I pull the elbow-length leather gloves Isaac brought back from the marketplace two weeks ago. I can see the proud expression on his face as he presented them to me clearly in my mind. After I caught the cougar and sustained a few puncture wounds on my forearm, he insisted I needed some kind of protective gear if I wanted to try something like that again. He helped me slip the gloves on and I couldn't believe how perfectly they fit every curve of my fingers all the way up to my elbows. We got in a huge fight that night when he refused to tell me how many gallons of water the gloves cost us.

Mary and Isaac watch Daedric and I as we disappear over the hillcrest. The other side of the hill is pretty bare except for a wooded area in the valley between this hill and the next.

"Stay up here and I'll call up to you if I need help."

He nods and takes a seat on the hillside. I slide down the steeper areas until I get to the valley.

The craggily trees grow in all directions. They remind me of the Bristlecone Pine trees in Northern California. My mom took me to see the pines when I was seven because they were one of the oldest living organisms on the planet and they were about to be cut down. I remember the despair I felt as I stared at the twisted branches of those ancient trees.

As usual, I take a seat on the lowest branch and crouch to make myself as small as possible. A crow flies down and perches on a branch above me. Crow is one of the worst game birds to eat: tougher than leather and just as tasty.

A pigeon swoops down and perches on the branch behind me. Pigeon is delicious, but I hate when the game is behind me. There's no way to turn around quietly. The only thing to do is hope I can jump backward and twist my body fast enough to catch it.

I take a couple of quiet deep breaths then I pounce. In the span of one second I release my grip on the branch, push off quickly so I'm flying backward as I twist my body to face the bird. The pigeon takes flight, but my hands are already outstretched and I snatch it from the air. I come down belly first on the branch and I dangle for a bit as the bird tries to peck and claw at my gloved hands.

"Sorry, birdie," I say, before I snap the bird's neck and let myself drop from the tree branch.

I could set the pigeon down and try for another, but I don't want to. I call up to Daedric and he slides down to join me. I hand him the pigeon and he smiles.

"It's our lucky day," I say. "We're having squab for dinner, old chap."

"Bloody brilliant," he replies. "Let me call 'round for the driver. Jeeves? Oh, Jeeves?"

I take one look at the _I-just-smelled-curdled-milk_ expression on his face and burst into laughter.

"I say. What is it you find so humorous, young lady?"

I double over laughing and he offers me a hand to pull me up.

"You do that accent much too well," I manage to say.

"I got an English aunt who visits every few years," he replies. "We like to pull the mickey out of her."

I shake my head. "No, no, no... You really need to stop with that," I say. "You don't _got_ an aunt, you _have_ an aunt. And never, ever say _pull the mickey_. Got it?"

Daedric laughs. "You guys talk funny out here."

" _We_ talk funny?" I reply, as I start climbing the hill.

My foot slips and I slide right into Daedric who falls on top of me.

"Oops!" I say, still giddy from all the laughing.

Daedric leans down and kisses my cheek.

"Oops," he says, before he kisses my lips.

I don't pull away because this time he doesn't taste like charred meat. His lips are the flavor of peppermint leaves from the tea he made. So fresh.

He pulls away first. "Big oops," he says.

"Let's oops again," I say, as I grab his shirt and pull him toward me.

We arrive at camp a few minutes later and I swear everyone here can smell the peppermint on my lips. I lay the pigeon down next to Mary for her to clean it.

"That's it?" she says, holding the bird up by its feet.

"I'll get more later," I say. At least, I hope I'll get more.

In the evening, we feast on squab with mint-almond pesto. It's the best meal we've had in months and I almost forget that Isaac is sitting across the fire scowling at me.

I scoot in next to Daedric for the second night and this time it's too much for Isaac. He storms off and disappears on the other side of the hill.

Daedric pulls the blanket over us. "He looks fit to burst."

"He'll get over it," I say, as I turn on my side so I'm facing away from Daedric.

He scoots in closer to me, but he keeps his hands to himself. I lay sleepless for an eternity before I finally sit up.

"Want me to help you look for him?" Daedric whispers.

"No. I'll go alone."

I set off over the hill thinking that the moment I glimpse Isaac I'm going to turn right back. The grass is moist with dew and I slide down the hillside much faster nearly slamming into the craggily tree at the bottom of the hill. I pick myself up and I spot Isaac, but I don't turn back.

He's standing at the top of the next hill. I climb after him partially because I want to see what he's staring at and partially because I can't stop myself. I reach the top and the view of the Salton Sea is breathtaking. I haven't seen bright city lights in years and the way the lights twinkle and reflect off the lake makes my throat ache.

"At night, it's easy to miss the ten-foot wall," Isaac says. "It's an enormous prison."

"An enormous prison with no crime and a nearly endless supply of water and power," I say.

"Still a prison."

He stares at me and I hold his gaze. He keeps glancing at my lips as if he can see where they've been just by looking at them.

"What?" I finally say.

"You were right," he says, as he turns his attention back to the city view. "I used Mary."

"I guess admitting it makes it all right?"

"But I didn't use her the way you think I did," he continues. "And, at first, I really thought I was in love with her."

Hearing him say these words knocks the wind out of me.

"As soon as I realized I wasn't over you, I was honest with her about it. She was the one who kept coming back."

"And you couldn't say no?"

"I really screwed everything up, didn't I?" he says, but he doesn't wait for my answer. "Do you like him?"

I don't answer right away. I don't know how I feel about Daedric. What does that even mean? Daedric's an interesting guy to hang out with and, yes, he's a great kisser, but that doesn't mean I want to spend the rest of my life or the foreseeable future with him.

"He's funny," I say.

"I can be funny," Isaac replies.

"I'm not sure I can trust you anymore, Isaac."

"You can trust me," he says, as he turns to face me again with a glint of desperation in his eyes. "I know you better than anyone. You can trust me, Nada."

He reaches up and brushes my hair out of my face and I can't help but flinch. I shake my head and back away.

"Okay. Take your time. I'll be here if you need me," he says.

"You're not coming back?"

"I'm going to hang out a little longer. Unless you want me to walk you back."

"No, I'm fine. But don't stay out here too long. The sun will be up soon and the Guardians will see you up here."

"Yes, Mother," he says, and he pulls me into the most awkward hug Isaac and I have ever shared.

I hold in my laughter as I slither out of his arms and make my way back to camp.

**CHAPTER 12**

"So, there are four gates into the Salton Sea, all of them strong with four Guardians," Daedric says, as we feast on the last bit of almonds in the morning. "I tried getting into every one of them and got the crap beat out of me four times. Fun stuff."

"For them, I'm sure," Isaac mutters.

"Anyway," Daedric continues. "The weakest gate is the north gate. Elysia and I scoped out all the gates for days before we tried to get in. The north gate is unguarded for about ten minutes every day."

"How is that possible?" I ask, before I crunch down on my last almond, possibly the last almond I'll ever eat.

"The guards change every hour exactly on the hour. I think they rotate from one gate to the next. There's a ten-minute delay for them to get to the north gate when they change guards at the end of the day. A fresh set of guards comes in at the west gate to relieve them. It always takes about ten minutes for the guards to hand over their weapons and deliver the daily reports. It's our only shot."

"Even if the guards are gone, isn't the gate locked?" Mary asks.

Eve tosses back the curtain of black hair over her eyes and she's wearing makeup. "What?" she says, as we stare at her.

I'm aware she has a supply of nail polish she uses like glue for her traps, but I didn't realize she had blush, black eyeliner, and shimmering lip-gloss. The liner along her lash-line makes the crystal blue irises of her eyes appear almost clear.

"You look really pretty," I tell her and the pink blush on her cheeks blooms to a brilliant red.

"What's with the face paint?" Isaac asks.

Eve's hands trembles before she faces him with a fierce expression in her eyes. "In case I run into them."

"Run into who?" Daedric asks.

Eve is referring to the guys who robbed her mother's grave and left her for dead. Though Eve has never said it, I always figure her mother's jewelry isn't the only thing the grave robbers stole from her.

With everything that's been going on, I haven't even stopped to ask Eve how she's doing. I crawl around the dead fire pit and put my arm around her shoulders.

"Don't waste another minute on them, Eve. Don't let them take any more pieces of you," I whisper.

She shakes her head. "I can't let it go. If I see them, I'm going to kill them. Then it will be over."

She doesn't tremble or cry as she says this. It's the first time Eve has ever appeared confident and resolute.

"I'll help you, Eve," Isaac says. "If we see them."

I look at Isaac, but his eyes are locked on Eve. He's serious.

"We'll all help you," Mary says.

A tear finally breaks free from Eve's eye, but she's smiling.

"What do we do if we're able to get inside?" Isaac asks Daedric. "Do you know where they're holding your sister? Have you been inside?"

"The gate is locked, so we gotta figure out a way to pick the lock quickly," Daedric replies. "Any suggestions?"

Isaac, Mary, and I all turn to Eve. She nods and begins rummaging through her backpack for her toolkit.

"After we get inside, we gotta make it all the way to the southern end of the lake. That's where they have Elysia," Daedric continues. "I don't know what happens after that."

"This is a suicide mission," Mary remarks, as she slips her third and largest knife into the holster on her waist.

"We gotta get cleaned up," Daedric says. "Everyone in there is clean. Nice hair, clean clothes, all that jazz."

We pick out our nicest clothes and wash them in the last gallon of water we have aside from the water in our canteens. We use some water from our canteens to wash our bodies and Eve applies a touch of makeup to Mary's and my face. Mary has trouble brushing the tangles out of her hair so I offer to help.

She sits cross-legged in front of me as I carefully brush out each tangle. I try to be as gentle as possible because she has so much hair.

"Nada?" she says. "I'm sorry for what I said about Isaac. He didn't use me. I knew what I was getting into. It just... it still hurts a little, you know, to not be good enough."

I think of how Mary's father left her to save himself in the middle of the storm. However hard it has been for me losing my sister and my mother, I still think it would be harder to be rejected by the one person who's supposed to love and protect you.

"Mary, Isaac didn't leave you because you're not good enough. You're much prettier than me. Look at this hair. It's so luxurious," I say.

She smiles. "Oh, shut up. Look at _your_ hair. So long and black like an Indian princess. And your eyes. I'd kill for your eyes."

My mother's parents were Irish and my father's parents immigrated to California from China. I used to think I was cursed with slightly slanted green eyes, but I began to accept my unusual appearance after hearing Isaac call me beautiful a thousand times.

"Can you braid my hair?" I ask her. "I don't want it getting in the way."

When Mary finishes braiding my hair, we brush our teeth and change into clean clothes. It's the first time in over two years I feel totally clean and refreshed.

"Look at you," Isaac says, as he looks me over with a huge grin on his face.

"What?"

He shakes his head. "Nothing."

As the sun begins to set, we find a ditch to hide our backpacks then we toss a bunch of leafy branches into the ditch to conceal the gear. We crouch low and try to stay hidden behind the small trees, bushes, and the few buildings left in the former resort town of the Salton Sea. There's no one around. No one else is stupid enough to come this close.

The dim moonlight barely illuminates the desert until we get closer to the ten-foot wall surrounding the city. Every twenty yards, bright spotlights propped atop the wall spin slowly, lighting up the surroundings.

Isaac was right. This is no shelter. This is a prison.

I try to imagine Lara locked inside these walls. I'd be overwhelmed with worry.

"They'll be changing in about twenty minutes. You got everything ready?" Daedric asks.

Mary pulls out her medium-sized blade, the one with the picture of a dove carved into the ivory handle. I pull out my jade knife, though I'd probably do much better without it. Eve removes three steel pins from her hair and hands them to Isaac. Eve may be good at building traps, but Isaac is great at cracking locks and picking pockets. The proof is hanging around my neck.

Apart from the minutes after I found Lara, these are the longest twenty minutes of my life. I crouch behind a dried up Mexican palm tree, watching the gate and tapping my hand on my knee. Isaac puts his hand on mine to stop the tapping.

"It's going to be okay," he says.

As he says this, the Guardians in their black bandannas and combat boots begin to walk to the next gate leaving the north gate completely unguarded.

We creep across the two hundred yards between our hiding place and the gate. As the spotlight turns, we scatter to dodge the light. Once it passes, we meet each other at the gate.

The gate is ten-feet tall, like the concrete walls, and each rung is topped with a sharp spike that glints in the moonlight. Isaac goes straight to work on the lock, but it's not an easy lock to crack. Beyond the gate, a small boy wearing a knit cap and pajamas passes us. He spots us at the gate and he seems perplexed.

I wave at him and he runs away. "Great. All we need is to get ratted out by a four-year-old."

"Hold this, Nada," Isaac says, placing my fingers around one of the pins. He sticks the other two pins just below the pin I'm holding in place and soon the lock clicks.

I can't help but shake my head in disbelief. Just as Isaac pushes the gate open, the last person in the world I want to see rounds the corner.

**CHAPTER 13**

Vic is even more muscular and menacing than the last time I saw him almost a year ago. The Salton Sea lifestyle suits him well.

"Well, hello there, friend," Vic says in his unnaturally deep voice.

Though he's about the same height as Isaac, his thick biceps and bald head make him appear stubby.

"Hey," Isaac says. "Long time no see."

"Oh, I wouldn't call two weeks a long time," Vic replies. "I mean, it's not as long as two years, is it?"

He's directing this question at me. "Definitely not as long as two years," I reply.

"Yeah, two weeks is nothing," Vic replies. "Nada."

"Why don't we discuss this somewhere else?" Isaac says.

"Discuss what?" Vic says, tilting his head. "The fact that you stole from me, the fact you've been hiding a big secret from me, or the fact that all your friends are about to be killed?"

"This is my necklace," I say. "He didn't steal it."

Vic grins wide showing all thirty-two of his perfectly straight, white teeth—the true mark of a privileged Westerner. "The little woman is still defending you," Vic says. "It seems Nada still doesn't know the truth about Isaac Faulk."

"I think we should take this discussion somewhere else," Isaac says. "Like you said, we're all going to die anyway."

He takes another step toward the gate and Vic slams him against the wall. He holds his football-sized forearm against Isaac's neck and gets in his face.

"Why don't you tell Miss Nada the truth?"

"Vic..." Isaac croaks under the pressure of Vic's arm.

_Suddenly I'm back in the hallway at Whitmore and Vic has me against the lockers. My vision is clouded with tears, but I can still hear everything. Vic is laughing. So are his cronies, but someone else is yelling_. Every person in this corridor is _yelling, "_ _Burn it down! Burn it down! Burn it down!_ _"_

_But one person's voice is louder than the rest._

_Isaac's voice punctures the melee of screams. "Give me the matches!"_

Vic drops Isaac and he crumples to the floor. Vic's rumbling laugh is the same laugh that haunts my nightmares.

"Don't listen to him, Nada," Isaac says, still choking on the words.

I realize my hand is gripping the blade of my knife instead of the handle and I release my grip. The knife hits the floor next to multiple drops of my blood. The new set of guards show up behind us. Daedric grabs my arm and forces me to run with him. I glance back at Eve and Mary as they run behind us. The Guardians are a few paces behind them, but Isaac and Vic are nowhere.

We race down a long corridor between two rows of tiny stucco abodes that wouldn't be tall enough for Isaac until we reach a lush garden. The four of us sprint toward the center of the gardens and I wonder if we've just trapped ourselves. If we make it to the lake, we'll be surrounded.

We keep running through the maze of corn and tomato plots, the well-fed Guardians lagging further and further behind us, when Daedric disappears down an open shaft three paces ahead of me. I stop just short of plunging into the same hole in the concrete. He's sprawled out at the bottom of a sewer hole.

"You okay?" I call out to him.

He lifts his head. "I'm fine. Hurry up and get down here."

Mary, Eve, and I slide down the slippery steel ladder and Daedric climbs back up to pull the manhole cover closed over us. The blackness is absolute and the sound of water gurgling surrounds us. The stench makes my lungs recoil.

"Great. How are we supposed to see in this?" Mary whispers, her voice muffled as she covers her face to block the stench.

"Give me a minute," Daedric says and I can hear him rustling around in his pockets.

A moment later, a beam of light shines from his hand.

"What's that?" I ask, as Daedric points the light around the hole.

"Look," he says, showing us the tiny four-inch flashlight with a compass attached to the side. "Just a little somethin' else I found with the baseball bat."

"Great. Now we can _see_ that we're stepping in crap," Mary says.

Eve smiles. "That compass can take us to the prison, if this sewer runs underneath it."

Daedric smiles at her. "You're a genius."

I can't glimpse her face through the murky glow of the flashlight, but I know Eve is blushing. Daedric holds the flashlight and leads us in the southerly direction. I try to keep Eve calm as the frantic sound of footsteps booms above our heads.

The sewer pipes become smaller and, though I don't say it aloud, I begin to sense we're going in circles.

We hit a dead end and Eve vomits her breakfast into a puddle of human sewage.

Mary squeezes the condensation dripping from her curls. "Are you sure we're going in the right direction?"

"We must have hit the lake," I say. "What do we do now?"

"We have to go around," Daedric replies.

"This lake is fifteen miles wide and over thirty miles long!" Mary cries. "We're gonna starve down here!"

"What about Isaac?" I say, though I can't hide the shame in my voice.

I shouldn't care what happens to Isaac. He set the fire that killed my mother. Still, he saved my life—and not just at Whitmore. He brought me back from the brink of starvation twice. He's my best friend.

"We can't leave him behind," I continue.

The pause that follows tells me everything I need to know.

"Fine," I say. "I'll just—"

"I'll help you find him," Daedric interrupts me. "Once we find Elysia I'll help you find Isaac."

He shines the flashlight into another dank sewer tunnel, but he doesn't look at me.

"Thank you," I say, as we continue after him.

After ninety minutes of walking and listening for some sign of prison activity, we stop to take a rest. I help Eve pull her sopping, sweaty hair into a ponytail before she vomits again. I squat in the sewage to rest my legs and immediately pull my shirt over my face. The stench multiplies at close range.

"Are we almost there?" Eve asks in a weak voice.

Daedric kneels next to me and cups his hand around the flashlight to get a better view of the compass. "I don't know. I thought we'd be there by now," he says. "Maybe the sewers don't run under the prison.

"Maybe we can't hear it down here," Mary says. "Maybe we passed up the prison a long time ago."

"We didn't pass it up," Daedric replies defensively.

"Hey, no need to get pissy with me," Mary shouts.

"Well, maybe I wouldn't get pissy witchoo if ya stopped gettin' pissy with me!" Daedric shouts back and I immediately spring to my feet and step between them.

"Shut up!" I whisper. "They're going to hear us down here."

"Daedric?" says a small voice and everybody turns to Eve.

"What?" he says.

Eve looks up at us from where she's squatting. "I didn't say anything."

"Daedric?" the voice calls out again, but this time we turn toward the dark sewer tunnel. "Daedric? Is that you?"

**CHAPTER 14**

I pull Eve up and we race toward the sound.

"Elysia?" Daedric calls out. "Elysia, I'm here."

"Daedric?" she calls out, and the anguish in her voice drawing out each syllable.

We reach the halfway point in the tunnel and spot the tiny grate above us. There's no way a person could fit through that.

Elysia presses her face against the grate and I suddenly remember what former President Kane looks like. Silky brown hair, button nose, and soft blue eyes.

"Daedric," she says in her tiny seven-year-old voice. "They... they made me—"

"Sh..." Daedric interrupts her. "You can tell me about it later. Right now I need you to tell me where you are and how many people are guarding you. Can you tell me that, sis?"

She whimpers into the grate and I have to turn away. Mary turns away. I wonder if she's silently wishing someone had gone searching for her after her father abandoned her.

"Please help me," Elysia whispers. "I don't want to be here, Daedric. Please get me out of here."

"I'm gonna help you, sis, but ya gotta help me, too," he says, his voice sounding much too thick. "How many men they got up there? Can you tell me that? Huh?"

Daedric's accent has returned. I turn back to the grate in time to see Elysia's tears falling onto Daedric's cheeks. He reaches up and sticks two of his fingers through the gaps to which she quickly latches on to.

"Don't leave me," she cries.

"I ain't gonna leave you," he says.

He turns to me and I know what he wants me to do.

I nod my head and turn to Mary. "We have to go up there... just me and you."

Mary's face goes blank. Not only is she about to risk her life, she's going to do it with me by her side.

Mary takes a deep breath. "Okay. Let's go."

Daedric's seems torn between a sense of gratitude and a sense of doom. "I don't know what to say," he says.

"Hey, I help you, you help me, right?" I reply.

He nods and before I can turn around he grabs my face and kisses my forehead. "Thank you."

Mary and I sprint down the tunnel toward the last manhole cover we passed. Mary slips in front of me and I catch her arm to keep her from falling into the muck.

"Jesus!" she yelps, and her Southern accent is coming back.

At the sound of Mary's cries, an explosion of footsteps pummels the concrete above us.

"Crap!" she whispers.

"It's okay," I whisper. "Just keep going."

We make it to the manhole cover and I climb the ladder until I'm right under it. I lift the cover to peek out and I immediately spot a couple of Guardians talking to an old man in front of a small house. I haven't seen anyone so old in years. They push the old man back into his house as he protests.

The instant the Guardians disappear inside the old man's house, I push the manhole cover aside and climb out. Behind me, there's nothing but an empty concrete courtyard and an archway leading to another corridor. A sign next to the archway reads: _HOLDING_.

I help Mary up the ladder and we carefully replace the manhole cover. We tiptoe through the courtyard toward the archway.

"How do these people live here?" Mary whispers as we turn the corner onto the corridor.

The corridor is empty but for a few dim sconces wrapped in metal wires to protect them from vandalism. What vandalism? This place is so clean and efficient, except for the constant sense that you're being held prisoner. This isn't what we fantasize about when we dream of making it inside the Salton Sea.

At the end of the corridor we stop at the sound of voices.

"Take him to the interrogation room," Vic says. "I'll have fun with him later. Right now, I have a few sewer rats to exterminate."

His footsteps are getting closer, but there's nowhere for us to hide in the corridor. I have to think fast, but all I can think about is whether it's Isaac they're taking to the interrogation room. Mary thinks faster than me and she pushes me out into the next corridor and pulls her machete out of its sheath.

A scream is caught in my throat as Vic sees me. Mary grabs the back of my shirt and tosses me behind her. She races toward Vic with her machete held high, her honey curls flying behind her like an Amazon warrior woman.

At first, Vic is too surprised to do anything. Then he reaches in his waistband and draws a sleek handgun that's swallowed by his gargantuan hand. He points the gun at Mary and the scream finally escapes my lips.

_"_ _MARY! STOP!"_

But it's too late. She's chopped off his hand at the wrist.

At the sound of my screams, the other Guardian comes charging out from behind the dark glass door at the end of the corridor. The door opens again and Isaac stumbles out, bloody and broken as he's held upright by another Guardian. This one is thin but wily. He pulls Isaac back inside and they disappear behind the smoky glass.

Vic falls to his knees, but it doesn't take him long before he realizes he still has one good hand. I race toward him and dropkick him in the face before he can reach his gun. The other Guardian finally registers what has happened and he reaches for his holster. Mary draws the small blade from her boot and heaves it at him. The blade plunges into the man's gut, but he doesn't drop his gun.

He's stunned. I snatch up Vic's gun and point it at him.

"Drop it!" I yell, and he obeys.

Mary picks up his gun and stuffs it in her waistband then she pulls her knife out of his gut as he collapses against the wall. We rush through the dark glass door. We enter and motion-activated lights flicker on illuminating a stark gray corridor, which branches off in two directions. Yellow words painted on the walls read: _HOLDING_ and _INTERROGATION_.

We race down the _HOLDING_ corridor and hope for a better outcome.

"That was pretty amazing," I whisper to Mary. "Gruesome, but amazing."

She doesn't smile or respond. We reach the end of the _HOLDING_ corridor and Mary grabs my arm to stop me.

"Let me," she says, as she inches her face forward to glance around the corner. "Two Guardians... they're watching something through a window... They're watching the inmates through the window."

Mary slips a knife from her pocket and my heart flutters at the sight of my jade knife. She hands me the knife and pulls out her medium knife the size of a small partially serrated butcher knife. Mary closes her eyes as she holds the knife in her left hand and the machete in her right, probably mentally preparing herself to chop off more limbs.

I stare at my blade for a moment. Mary was the last person to sharpen my blade. I hope she wasn't so angry with me at the time she decided to sabotage me. What if I try to stab one of those Guardians and the knife doesn't so much as nick him?

It doesn't matter. I'm not a knife fighter. I prefer to use my hands and feet. In combat it's always best to use what you have than rely on what can be taken away from you. That's when I remember the gun in my waistband.

"Wait," I say to Mary. "Take this. I can't use it."

She eyes the gun warily before she tucks the medium knife back into its holster. "Stay behind me," she whispers before she creeps around the corner into the corridor.

The two buffoons are staring out the window in total silence, watching an empty corridor lined with prison cells. We creep closer until we're only a few yards away.

"Hands up!" Mary yells, and both Guardians whip their heads around.

The lankier one on the left reaches for his gun and Mary shoots him in the arm. The beefier one holds his arms above his head. I move toward the lankier one to confiscate his gun and he moves his fingers as if he's going to try to reach for the gun with his other hand.

I shake my head. "Bad idea."

He puts his good arm up and I slip his gun from his holster. I can smell his foul breath through the black bandanna covering his mouth. I take the beefy guy's gun and try to hand it Mary, but she shakes her head so I stuff it in my waistband.

"Take us to the little girl," I say to the beefy guy and he nods.

While Mary guards the wounded Guardian, the beefy guy leads me straight into the prison corridor to the last cell on the right. Elysia is curled up on the floor of the four by six cell next to the grate in the floor. There's no toilet. She must use the grate as a toilet.

"Open it!" I demand. "Hurry up!"

The Guardian mutters something beneath his black bandanna as he fumbles with the keys. I press the gun to his back and he opens the cell door quickly. Elysia doesn't move.

"Go with them, Elysia," I can hear Daedric's voice in the grate, hollow and exhausted. "I'll meet you up there."

Elysia pulls herself up and slogs wearily out of the cell.

"It's okay," I say to her. "We're going to take you to your brother."

As I say these words, the beefy Guardian snatches the gun from my hand and blasts off a shot that blows out a chunk of the concrete floor. I lunge toward him and the gun goes off again. This time it hits Elysia and she collapses behind me.

_"_ _DON'T MOVE!"_ Mary shouts from the next corridor.

She's been shot in the shoulder and the impact must have knocked her unconscious. He points the gun at my chest and for a moment I'm helpless.

"Put your hands up!" he yells at me, the contempt in his voice slightly muffled by his bandanna. I raise my hands slowly.

"Ha! I just wanted to see you do it," he says and I know I'm about to die.

A shot explodes in my ears and I drop to the concrete. Something hits the ground next to me, but I'm too afraid to open my eyes. I'm not dead.

"Elysia!" Daedric yells, as loud footsteps smack the pavement behind me.

I open my eyes slowly. The beefy Guardian lies in front of me his glassy eyes open wide as blood gushes from a hole in his cheek. Behind me, Daedric scoops Elysia into his arms and throws a gun to the floor.

"Get up, Nada!" he yells at me. "We gotta get the hell out of here!"

He carries Elysia into the corridor and I follow close behind. Mary is holding her machete to the lanky Guardian's throat. Eve stands next to her appearing deader than the other Guardian. Daedric feels Elysia's neck for a pulse.

"She's alive," he says. "Let's go."

We make it to the ten-foot wall on the backside of the prison without rousing the attention of more Guardians. Daedric squats on all fours so Mary and Eve can climb over the wall. He and I help lower Elysia. Daedric is the last to make it over the wall and out of the Salton Sea.

**CHAPTER 15**

It takes Daedric four weeks to nurse Elysia back to health and another three weeks to make it around the scorched Yosemite National Park to President Kane's love nest. Seven weeks I can hardly remember. When we get there, it's just as Daedric described it: a small cabin tucked safely away in the middle of a dense forest. The trees and grass are severely parched, but the lake that lays steps from the cabin is clear and sparkling.

"See?" Daedric says. "I'm a man of my word."

There's one bedroom with two sets of twin bunk beds. Eve and Elysia have agreed to share a bunk. The rest of us pick a bed and my throat thickens at the thought that Isaac and I will never again share a bed.

When everybody's gone taking a dip in the lake I begin pulling the filthy clothes out of my backpack and laying them out on my bunk. The cabin has a real washing machine with real soap.

"You don't have to do that," Daedric says, as he enters the room.

"Do what?"

"Pretend you're going to stay," he says.

Suddenly the room is closing in on me and I sink onto the bed. I lean forward clutching my chest as Daedric's boots swim in my vision. He kneels in front of me forcing me to look him in the eye. I close my eyes. I want to rip out my heart but I don't think I have one.

_I left Isaac behind. What kind of heartless person am I?_

Daedric lifts my chin. "I'll go with you."

Turn the page for a preview of

Left Behind: Book Two of the No Shelter Trilogy.

**CHAPTER 1**

I've never seen Mary angrier. Not even the time I woke to find her grinning at me while sharpening the knife given to me by my dead mother. She's practically spitting in protest at what I've suggested.

"You think just because he dumped me that I feel less bad about leaving him behind?" she shouts from across the bunkroom in our tiny cabin in the woods. "Newsflash, Nada: Isaac and I are friends, too. I have a right to go!"

Her honey curls are dripping wet from swimming in the lake as she clutches a fluffy white towel around her body. We don't have swimsuits. We only arrived at the cabin five hours ago and I'm already getting ready to leave.

I had a feeling Mary would react this way when I told her Daedric and I would be setting off in search of Isaac. After leaving Isaac behind seven weeks ago as a prisoner at the Salton Sea I couldn't bare to live inside my skin. The shame of abandoning my best friend has been eating away at me from the inside out like maggots. I knew Mary would be upset with my suggestion that she stay behind at the cabin with Eve and Daedric's seven-year-old sister Elysia, but I didn't think she would protest so vehemently.

"Fine," I say, as I slip my arms into the straps of my backpack. "And I know you and Isaac are friends... some of the time."

Mary changes into dry clothes and repacks her backpack. Daedric and I trudge into the kitchen where Eve and Elysia are busy eating bowls of ramen noodles.

Elysia slurps the noodles and gets broth all over her face sending her and Eve into fits of giggles. I glance at Daedric's face to see how he's holding up. His golden hair shades his green eyes. He puts his hand on the small of my back and leads me toward the kitchen. The regret in his eyes makes my stomach twist.

"You can stay," I whisper.

He shakes his head as we enter the kitchen. The tinkling laughter explodes in my ears. A mess of ramen noodles is splattered across the vinyl tile in the tiny kitchen.

Eve smiles at me. "She's the one who made the mess," she says, pointing at Elysia.

Fifteen-year-old Eve has only known Elysia for seven weeks, but they're already like sisters. Elysia has forced Eve to peek out of her protective shell and take a look around. Grave robbers assaulted Eve five months ago and I imagine Elysia's innocence reminds Eve of the way things were before that day. If I leave, will Eve regress?

"Elysia, clean up your mess, please," Daedric commands, his voice is soft and comforting. "You have to keep this place clean. I'm not gonna be here to do it for you."

Elysia laughs as she kneels and picks the sticky ramen noodles off the floor.

Eve sets her bowl of noodles on the counter and looks at me. "You're leaving?"

Daedric nods and Elysia drops a handful of noodles into her bowl on the counter. "Where are you going?" Elysia asks, but she's still smiling. She doesn't know what Eve means.

Daedric picks Elysia up and sits her on the counter. "How's your shoulder?"

Elysia shrugs the shoulder where she was shot seven weeks ago then she shrugs both shoulders as if to say, _"I guess it's okay if I can still do this."_

"We're going to look for someone," Daedric says to her. "When we rescued you from the bad place, one of our friends got lost. We gotta go back for him, just like we went back for you. Do you understand?"

Elysia's not smiling anymore. "We have to go back there?"

"No, honey. You're not going back there," he says. "You never gotta go back there. Just me and Nada and Mary. We'll be gone for a while and you'll stay here with Eve. And you two can eat all the noodles and swim for hours until you're sick. But you still gotta clean up your mess. Is that okay?"

Elysia appears torn between nonstop swimming and losing her brother again.

"You have to stay," I say to Daedric. "I'll go alone with Mary. We'll be fine without you."

Daedric chuckles. "Gee, thanks."

"You know what I mean," I say. "You have to stay here."

Daedric turns back to Elysia. "What do you think, sis? Should I stay with you or should I go with Nada to find our friend?"

Elysia pinches her chin and tilts her head as she thinks. "You should go get him," she says with a nod of her head and her brown hair falls forward around her round face. "You can't leave him in the bad place."

Mary enters the kitchen with her backpack on and her wet curls wrapped in a knot on the back of her head. "I'm ready."

"Listen to Eve while we're gone, okay? And when I get back I'll build us a boat so we can go fishing," Daedric says and Elysia's eyes light up.

The light in Eve's crystal blue eyes flickers out. I wrap my arms around her and she barely pats me on the back in return.

"Are you okay?" I ask her.

She nods. "Don't promise me you'll come back," she says. "Just promise you won't let them take any more pieces of you."

"Next time, we're going back for you," I reply. "And please build some traps around the cabin, just in case anyone stumbles upon this place."

This is the first time I've seen Eve with her hair pulled back in a ponytail. Her black hair normally hangs around her face hiding her fair skin and eyes. I don't know if it's her hair or the mild sunburn on her cheeks, but she appears livelier than ever. Or maybe I'm just trying to fool myself into believing that Eve is strong enough to be left behind. Her and Mary exchange a brief hug and Mary whispers something in her ear that makes her smile.

We leave the cabin and set off down the steep slope we climbed when we arrived just hours ago. Daedric immediately reaches for my hand to help me down.

I pull my hand back. "Thanks, but I can do it alone," I say, as I grasp a small boulder and lower myself down the incline. I've descended inclines steeper than this a million times in the Angeles Forest.

"Yeah, I kinda got that already," Daedric replies. "I was just trying to help."

Mary makes it to the bottom first. "Are you guys going to be bickering the whole way?" she says as she catches her breath. "I'll just keep my distance if you don't mind."

I can't help but roll my eyes as she sets off a few paces ahead of us. Mary is the last person I need a lecture from on bickering.

Daedric smiles at me as if I have a booger sticking out of my nose.

"What?" I ask.

"I saw that look," he says with a grin. "You're still peeved about her and Isaac."

"Oh, please. I'm over that," I reply.

Daedric's laugh punctures the still forest air. He can see right through me.

**Books by** T.S. Welti

**No Shelter Trilogy** **(Post-Apocalyptic Love Story)**

No Shelter (#1)

Left Behind (#2)

Buried Alive (#3)

No Shelter Trilogy Omnibus Edition (#1-3)

Tangled Hopes (The Prequel) coming soon!

Darklandia (Dystopian)

**Carrier Spirits** **(Paranormal Romance)**

Parallel Spirits (#1)

**If you enjoyed this book,** **please consider supporting the author by sharing your opinion on** Goodreads.com **or wherever you purchased this book. This eBook is DRM-free, which means you are also welcome to share this eBook with as many of your friends and family as you wish.**

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

I was born and raised in Southern California and have lived in three countries, three states, and a zillion different cities. I write mostly science fiction, fantasy, and romance for readers ages thirteen and up. In my spare time I love traveling; misquoting movies and TV shows; consuming mounds of books and chocolate; obsessing over music and lyrics; and pretending to be a celebrity chef.

I began telling stories when I was five and began writing them down when I was six. I was painfully shy as a child. Writing and reading provided an escape from the scary world. In fact, I was so introverted, I once wrote a story about a girl who got rejected by her imaginary friend and the story was based on true events. I know, how sad. Thankfully, as I got older I grew out of the shyness, for the most part, but I never let go of my books or my pencil.

You can find out more about me and my books at http://tswelti.com.

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