"Do you have keys?" she questions, looking down at my hands.
"Fuck no." I run a hand through my hair, annoyed that I didn't think of that earlier. "Where do you think they'd be?"
She moves through the house toward the front door. "If it were me, they'd be right next to the door or in my purse."
I follow her, my eyes moving down to her ass, and watching as it sways with her steps. "What do you think happened to these people? It's like this place is a tomb. It's waiting for the family who lived here to come back."
She shrugs as we get to the foyer. "More than likely, they took the bait of everyone who offered shelter for a ton of money. Most of those people died because of the stampedes in the small shelters they were placed in."
"You're probably right. Maple and I contemplated purchasing seats in one of those shelters."
Her head whips around, and I hate that I don't know her well enough to decipher the look on her face. "Weren't you and Maple divorced by then?" She shrugs when I throw her a questioning glare. “Small-town gossip, right? Y’all were the talk of Bishop’s Landing.”
Rolling my eyes, I mumble. “I just bet we were. Yeah, but when the world might be coming to an end, you go back to what you know. When the reports came that Eruption would be happening, I sought her out. We spent a couple of nights together, thought about riding it out with each other and getting those seats. In the end," I shake my head, blowing out a breath, "we couldn't even get along for more than a couple of nights. I knew I couldn't be in a highly stressful situation with her and make it. She and I? At the end, we were like oil and water. Everything she did fucking pissed me off or got on my nerves, and I know it was the same for her with me. We wouldn't have made it, so I made the decision to take off on my own."
"That doesn't sound like it was easy," she speaks softly, her voice full of understanding and sympathy.
"It wasn't." I let myself go back to those nights right after Eruption and where I'd felt guilty as fuck, wondering if she made it or not. "I convinced myself she was better off without me."
The heaviness of what she and I discussed hangs in the air. But I watch as she runs her hands along the top of the table right in the doorway. She moves some mail to the side and makes a noise in the back of her throat. "Found it," she grins, holding up a key ring. "Hopefully these are the ones we need for the Jeep."
She tosses them to me, and I catch them with a flick of my wrist. "Let's go." I tilt my head toward the door leading to the garage. "Cross your fingers and pray to any God that might still be out there that this damn thing turns over."
"What are we going to do with the motorcycle if it works?" she questions, following me as we walk back the way we came.
"I don't want to get rid of it. It takes much less gas than any other vehicle, and if we need to get away quickly without people following us, we can do it. I'll look and see if I can fabricate a cargo rack to put on the back." Opening the door to the garage, my stomach grumbles with nerves. I desperately want this Jeep to run. I don’t ask for much anymore, but I’m praying that this engine turns over. I learned quickly not to ask for favors from others or even myself. I stopped praying years ago, but right now, I close my eyes and send a small one up. There are windows in the garage, and there's just enough light for me to see. Won't be for very much longer, as the sun goes down a lot sooner than it used to. We don't have much time, and we need to do this as quickly as we can.
Pressing my thumb into the key fob, it chirps, and Beth claps her hands. "It's going to work," she whispers.
God, I hope so. Opening the driver's side door, I sit in the seat and familiarize myself. I haven't driven or sat in a vehicle since a couple of days before Eruption. This one isn't a push-to-start, so I carefully select what I think is the correct key and then stick it in the ignition. Pressing my foot on the brake, I turn the ignition and listen as it slowly starts. "Holy shit," I yell, smiling over at Beth. "It works!" I say, even though it obviously does.
"How much gas is in it?" She runs over to the passenger side.
"Half a tank, which isn't great, but we can siphon from this other one." I point to the extended-cab truck sitting next to it.
"Do you know how to do that?"
"I learned once, never had to do it in real life, but I can figure it out. Let's turn this off to conserve what we've got, and I need to see if I can fabricate something for the motorcycle."
She nods, licking her lips. "Worse comes to worst, Knox, we can stay here a few days. It looks safe. The only thing I'm worried about is water. It's been the only thing we haven't lucked up on in this town, and I don't know about you, but I didn't see a dam, which is what we hoped for."
"You're right. I have a couple bottles in my backpack."
"I have a couple, too. We should look around and see what we can find in here. Most people hoarded a couple of cases as they were waiting on Eruption to happen. If we can secure water, then we're fine here for a few days. It'll give us time to search other houses on the street and see what we can find. This might set us up for the future."
"You're right. Let's use this to our advantage. We’d be stupid not to."
As I walk toward the kitchen and she heads for what looks like a pantry, I can't help but shake my head. We've been traveling together for a few hours, and her mentioning the future gives me hope. While that would've freaked me the fuck out at the beginning of Eruption, I'm finding that today, being with her at the end of the world sounds pretty damn good.
CHAPTER 5
BETH
Hope and companionship are two things I’ve given up on the further away from Eruption we get, and as I'm walking toward the pantry to see what I can find, I'm fighting back tears. My chest tightens almost unbearably as I realize I'm no longer in this alone. Granted, I don't know for how long or how much I'll be able to count on Knox, but for however long this lasts, I'm going to hold onto it. Being by myself has been so fucking stressful, just knowing there’s someone in this with me is enough to make me want to sob with relief.
Opening the bifold pantry doors next to the fridge, I almost collapse. Inside are two neatly stacked cases of bottled water.
Luck hasn't been on my side since Eruption started, but it looks like Knox has brought it to me in spades. Clearing my throat, I get my emotions under control before I shout happily. "We have two cases of water in here, Knox!"
