Waves of Fury (Surviving Earth Chronicles)

Chapter Twenty-Three

Kellen

W e’ve been walking for five hours straight with few breaks and we’re only halfway to Lee Vining. From there, if we don’t secure a vehicle, we’re looking at another seventy-two hours of walking to Stovepipe Wells.

This is insanity.

I’m still having trouble coming to terms with the fact that society has already collapsed so much that we can’t find good people or humanitarian aid. It doesn’t help that we’re trapped in bum-fuck nowhere. There aren’t any gas stations or homes in sight. Just us, the road, and the increasingly falling temperatures. The one thing I’m grateful for since we set off on our walk through the mountains is we haven’t encountered any earthquakes.

It’s amazing the things you learn about people when you’re forced to be around them and in a dire, high-stakes situation.

Wayne snores loud enough to make a person want to duct-tape his mouth shut. Gerry has to take shit breaks. A lot. He says walking makes him regular. Jesse always has some smart-ass remark that makes Hailey giggle and the rest of us roll our eyes. Silas knows a lot about dinosaurs. Judy is a great singer and will belt out some songs to distract us for a bit. Aaron likes Hope, but she’s too angry at the world to notice. Dan knows a lot about worldly events and is a history buff, which is also quite entertaining.

And Tyler?

Tyler is magnetic.

Everything he says or does draws my attention to him. He easily makes me forget we’re surviving the end of the world. I feel twenty years old again, eager for romance and the affection of another.

This isn’t me.

And I’m not even mad about it.

Maybe I needed a hard break from my life. Obviously, I would never have chosen to go this route, but it’s the hand I’ve been dealt. Aside from all the heartache of continuously losing people and worrying about my brother, the moments with Tyler have been pretty spectacular.

Like last night…

I’m ditching these boxers the second I can because no one wants to walk ten hours in jizz-crusted underwear. But dealing with this inconvenience is totally worth it. Last night he dry fucked me until we both came and it was everything I could have ever imagined.

I’m desperate for more of him.

I want to crawl into our tent, freshly showered if I’m fantasizing here, and strip him bare. I want the time to admire his body and worship it properly. I want his hands and tongue all over me. I want to be deep inside him, kissing him roughly as I give us what we both need.

“Who needs a bathroom break?” Gerry asks because of course he has to shit.

“I do,” Judy and Hope both say at once.

We all come to a halt while Judy, Hope, and Gerry head for the trees for privacy. I drop onto my ass on the asphalt, watching Tyler as he cuts up with his little brother while Aaron watches them with fatherly pride in his eyes.

“Ahh!” one of the women in the trees cries out.

Dan darts over to them, which means it was Judy. Seconds later, she limps as her husband holds her upright.

“What happened?” I call out.

“Rolled my ankle,” Judy grumbles. “I’m so stupid.”

“Mom!” Hailey hisses. “You’re not stupid.”

Judy shoots me a peeved look. I understand her frustration. In our reality, where walking for ten-hours days is the norm, an injury like this is quite a liability.

Tyler strides over to her and makes her sit down on the road so he can assess her ankle. For someone with no medical training whatsoever, Tyler does his best. He would have made one helluva EMT.

Judy winces as she pulls off her boot. Silas sidles up next to her and hugs her while Dan and Hailey watch with matching worried expressions.

“Does it feel broken?” Tyler asks, gently pressing around her ankle bone.

“Just really sore,” she says with a sigh. “I’m fine. I have to be.”

That’s no lie.

You’re fine or you’re dead these days. There is no in between.

“I’m going to wrap it to give you extra support,” Tyler says as he pulls out the thick wrap from his first aid kit. “Tonight, when we rest, you need to prop this foot up. Make the hubs and kids wait on you.”

She smirks. “Thanks, Doc.”

Tyler efficiently wraps up her ankle and then helps her put her sock and boot back on.

“Jess,” he calls out. “Find Judy a stick she can use for walking. She’ll need the extra support.” Then to me he says, “How’s your side?”

I have checked it on our many bathroom breaks and it seems to be healing nicely. “Sore but better.”

“It could use new dressings,” Tyler says as he moves to sit beside me. “Let me see it.”

I unzip my jacket and then lift my shirt. This close to him, I get a whiff of his scent. Salty and unique. I could pick his scent out of a lineup with my eyes closed. While I probably smell like death warmed over or stinky gym socks, he smells heavenly. It reminds me of last night when I got to taste him. His mouth tasted pretty damn good too.

“You’ll survive,” he says as he inspects my healing wound. “It’s bruised all to hell.” He lifts a brow at me and I read between the lines. Did I hurt you last night?

“I’m fine,” I assure him, sharing a wicked smile. “Better than fine.”

He laughs and then sets to cleaning my wound. Once it’s redressed, he gives me the go ahead to pull my shirt down and zip back up into my coat.

“Miss Judy,” Wayne says, “if you want to sing sweet nothings into my ear, I’ll give you a piggyback ride wherever you want to go.”

Judy blushes and laughs. Dan playfully scowls at him. Despite all our hardships, the mood of the group right now is light and I love that for us. Even Hope is smiling, and I haven’t seen her do a lot of that lately.

I really hope Lee Vining can offer us something. Lodging, a vehicle, supplies, nice humans. I’ll hold onto that hope too.

It’s late afternoon when we see the sign for Lee Vining. Better yet, there’s promise of food and lodging. Our collective good mood grows with each passing step.

That is, until we reach the town.

The small town at the base of the mountains has mostly collapsed into a sinkhole that stretches as far as the eye can see and at least fifty feet deep. A sign for a cannabis store is the only thing that remains of said store. We all stand on the edge of the sinkhole, gaping in part fascination and part defeat.

“We’ll get off the road and head toward 395, catching up to it past the sinkhole,” I say, finally addressing the group. “We might get lucky and find a car.”

Judy, who hours ago took Wayne up on his offer, shoots me a sad smile. We’d all held out such high hopes for Lee Vining. But we can’t sit around and mope. We’ll need to find a place to make camp soon.

I lead our group around the massive sinkhole and onto the road that’ll eventually take us to Stovepipe Wells. The ground trembles beneath our feet and I can’t help but wonder if we weren’t safer in the mountains. There’s no turning back, though. With no lodging or food or water, we’d eventually be ultimately screwed up there.

Tyler falls into step beside me. When he takes hold of my hand, I welcome it. I’m not sure what the others think about our budding romance, but I’m too selfish to care. It feels right holding his hand. It certainly helps soften the blow of what a failure Lee Vining was for us.

We walk another ten minutes before I see a structure in the distance. It’s quickly turning dusk, which makes it harder to see, but my heart rate quickens in anticipation.

“There’s a building up ahead,” I say to Tyler. “What do you think it is?”

“Let’s hope for a working McDonald’s.”

I bark out a laugh. “Of all the things you could wish for, it’s that?”

“I’ve been living off nuts and candy bars,” he grumbles. “A burger sounds divine right about now.”

We’re both all smiles as we approach. It’s not a McDonald’s, but it’s the next best thing. An intact hotel. Not the loveliest of hotels as it’s seen better days, but it sure beats tent living.

“Tyler, Aaron, Dan,” I say, gesturing at the men. “Let’s check things out before we all go traipsing over there.”

Humans have burned us one too many times to trust that any we’ll find will be good to us.

Once the scout team is assembled, we carefully make our way over to the building. The pool is empty of water and the parking lot is devoid of cars. There’s a sign on the door that says Lee Vining was evacuated and that the hotel is closed until further notice.

I bang on the door to the hotel office while Aaron and Tyler peek inside for movement. After minutes of nothing, I pick up a metal outdoor ashtray trashcan and launch it at the front window. Glass explodes, sending shards all over the ground in front of me.

“Subtle,” Tyler deadpans, smirking at me.

Chuckling, I step inside, my boots crunching the glass, and make my way over to the wall where old keys hang from hooks. Aaron tries to turn on the lights, but the electricity seems to be cut off. I grab all the keys to the fourteen rooms and stuff them into my pocket. There’s nothing useful in the office in the way of food or supplies.

“Dan, Aaron,” I instruct, “see if there’re any vending machines. Meet back at the group after. Me and Tyler will check out some of these rooms so we can secure a few for the night.”

We split up and head for the rooms along the sidewalk outside. Room one has a king-sized bed that’s been freshly made. The next two rooms are messy with discarded towels and rumpled bedding. The next several are clean like the first one but have double queen beds in them.

“Too bad the electricity doesn’t work,” I grumble as I flip a switch on and off.

Tyler disappears into the dark bathroom and then I hear the sound of running water. “There’s water, though!”

“Be careful,” I bark out. “Water may not be safe.”

“Two steps ahead of you,” he calls out. “I ran it over a washcloth, and nothing happened. No acid. I still probably wouldn’t drink it, to be safe, but we can definitely shower in it.”

A shower seems too good to be true.

Once we’ve made sure there are enough hotel rooms for everyone to sleep comfortably, we make our way back over to the group. Aaron grins widely as he tosses me a bag of Doritos.

“Vending machines,” Aaron says, next tossing Tyler a package of Pop-Tarts. “They’ve got the good stuff too.”

Maybe Lee Vining wasn’t a total loss after all.

“Tonight’ll be cold without a fire,” I tell the group, “but we’ll have blankets, real beds, and shelter from the chilly wind. We have to take our wins where we can get them.”

Everyone is chattering all at once, the excitement palpable within our group. I show them to the rooms. As much as I’d love to steal Tyler away and take the privacy of the king room I found, I end up tossing him the key to room five.

Wayne and Gerry decide to share a room beside ours, though I doubt there’ll be any shenanigans happening. Just snoring and shitting. Beside them, Dan and his family take the next room. In the last room, Hope, Aaron, Jesse, and Pretzel disappear inside.

Once I’ve ensured everyone is safely inside their rooms, I slip into the one I’m sharing with Tyler. Light from the battery-operated lantern illuminates the bathroom behind him. He’s already got the shower running and I’m shocked to see steam coming from the bathroom.

“Hot water?” I croak out in shock.

“Hell yeah,” Tyler says with a wide grin as he starts stripping off his coat. “One at a time or together?”

I grin wolfishly at him as I drop my backpack to the carpet. “And let you steal all the hot water? Fat chance. We’ll share.”

“Is that all we’ll be doing? Sharing hot water?” He tugs off his shirt, revealing his sculpted, young chest that makes my mouth water. “Hmm, Kell?”

“I might let you soap certain parts of me down, too.”

“It’s a date.”

Hell.

Is that what this is? Are we dating during the apocalypse? Yeah. Yeah, I think we are.