Cora (Love in the Apocalypse #2)

11. Cora

Chapter eleven

Cora

M y heart was still pounding from watching Derrick and Isaac fight. It dissipated quickly, but there were a few nail-biting moments there where I was worried for them. I didn’t know what to do if they fought and split up. I’ve grown entirely too attached to all of them.

Now, they were making up a plan for trapping. Sneaking Daddy’s book and maps upstairs was risky, and I was happy to see that it was Trent standing guard last night. If it were one of the others, I wouldn’t have been able to make the drop. With Trent, I just had to bide my time and wait for him to fall asleep.

From the sounds of it, they planned to be out all day, giving me time to sneak more food upstairs. However, I’d have to get more creative with where I hid it. Of course, if I hid the food in a location that was too obscure, they might not ever find it.

“Where did you find this book?” Derrick asked Isaac.

“It was on the table when I got up in the middle of the night,” Isaac replied. “I assumed one of you must have found it and left it for me.”

One by one, the others shook their heads no.

Derrick spun on Trent. “Do you see what happens when you fall asleep instead of keeping watch like you should? You fell asleep, and she slipped in and left the book for Isaac! The first sign we’ve had of her in weeks. We could have caught her last night!”

“Derrick, ease up,” Remi said, shifting his body slightly so that he was between them.

“We could have had her, Remi!” Derrick stressed.

“Not really,” Remi argued. “If Trent had been awake, she wouldn’t have come out. At least this way, we won’t waste our time failing at trapping; we’ve got a better idea of what to do.”

I nodded along as Remi spoke. He was right. If Trent had been awake, I would have waited.

“So now you agree with me?” Derrick asked, his anger dimming at the prospect of having someone on his side.

“Honestly, I don’t see any other explanation for it,” Remi replied with a sigh. “I was the last one to go to bed last night, and after saying goodnight to Trent, I remember looking at the table and there wasn’t a book there.”

Trent shook his head, still in disbelief at the possibility of my existence. Isaac just looked frustrated, which exploded out of him seconds later.

“Can we please fucking focus? I know the mystery of the ghost girl is a riveting distraction, but we need to set these traps and keep setting them until we have enough meat stored for winter, or we’ll have to leave. So perhaps we could get our priorities straight and then worry about your ghost later.”

“Isaac’s right,” Derrick said, surprising all of us. “Food first. We can deal with this later.”

Once they had finalized their plans and left, I went downstairs to gather ingredients I thought they might need for stew. I contemplated where I would hide the food when I had an epiphany. There wasn’t a soup pot upstairs, and I’d be willing to bet that wasn’t something they had paid attention to. So if I stuffed the extra ingredients into the soup pot and then shoved that in the bottom of a cabinet, they wouldn’t suspect it hadn’t always been there.

Pleased with my plan, I gathered a few cans of vegetables, spices, bouillon, and three packets of instant mashed potatoes and dropped them into my big soup pot. I didn’t know how they ate their stew, but I always enjoyed mine over mashed potatoes.

I went back upstairs and stood at the kitchen wall, straining my ears for any sound that might indicate they had returned. When I was confident that I was alone, I slipped out of the hidden door in the kitchen and went to the cabinet where other pots and pans were.

I shifted some of the pots around to squeeze the soup pot into the back and then moved them back in front so it looked like the pot had been carelessly shoved toward the back over time.

When I stood, arms wrapped around me from behind like steel bands, pulling me tight against a hard body.

“I knew I’d catch you eventually, Ghost Girl,” Derrick rasped in my ear.

It felt like pins and needles where his body touched mine, and I didn’t know if I liked it or not. It had been so long since I had any physical contact with another living thing that it was a completely foreign feeling.

My fight-or-flight instincts kicked in, and I whipped my head backward, slamming it into Derrick’s nose as hard as possible. Derrick shouted in pain, and his arms loosened enough for me to wiggle out of them.

I ran back toward the secret door as fast as possible, but Derrick recovered faster than expected. He dove for me, catching my foot and sending me crashing to the ground.

Crawling on my hands and knees, I tried to get away, but Derrick was like an octopus, and I couldn’t seem to escape his clutches. He climbed over me and managed to flip me onto my back, sitting on my hips with my arms pinned against my stomach.

He was grinning down at me even as blood dripped from his nose. “I knew you were real! What’s your name, Ghost Girl?”

I glared at him defiantly. Even if I could answer him, I didn’t want to. Not after he tripped me.

“Derrick! What the hell is taking you so long?” Trent shouted as he came through the front door. Our heads turned in his direction as Trent stopped short, his mouth falling open in shock.

Taking advantage of the momentary distraction, I bucked my hips, tipping Derrick off of me, kicked him in what I hoped was the groin, and scrambled through my door, making sure to lock it behind me.

I was exhausted and panting behind the wall, but a silent laugh tumbled from my lips as the adrenaline rushed through my veins.

That was exhilarating!