Page 16 of Worth Fighting For

Honestly? Renzo had no clue. He’d been taught to always look at expiration dates, but Coleson had a point. It wasn’t as if a certain date suddenly made the medication stop working. Right?

“Okay,” Westland said. “Let’s set up a team to go to the surrounding towns and scavenge for medical supplies.” He looked directly at Renzo. “You’ll need to go with them since you’re best equipped to decide what we’d need.”

He’d wanted to object because just the thought of days of traveling sounded exhausting, but he had to admit it was the right call. “Fine,” he’d agreed reluctantly.

“Coleson should go, too.” Lowen held up a hand when it was obvious the Omega was going to object. “The town has other supply needs and you are the one most knowledgeable about all of them.”

Coleson sighed, but nodded. “True. But I expect lists from anyone with specific demands.” He pointed right at Lowen. “Like your farm.”

Lowen grinned at him. “You got it. Since we’re coming into fall and the weather will change quickly the later it gets, plan on leaving in three days. That will give us time to figure out who is going besides you two, transportation, a map of places you should try to hit, and gathering a list of things anyone needs.”

The group nodded and stood. Renzo, on the other hand, continued to sit there stunned. Somehow it was just arranged to spend days, if not longer, with Coleson by his side.

The thing was, he did not know how it had happened. Sure, he’d been there for the discussion. Hell, he’d been the one insisting on the need to find medical supplies. But he’d never once imagined any of that would have meant getting to be in close contact with his Omega.

And, yes, Coleson was his. They may not have even kissed, but he knew, in his heart, they belonged to one another. He might not have any clue how he was going to win Coleson’s heart, but Renzo knew, without a doubt, they were meant for each other.

What he hadn’t expected was to have time with his Omega to convince him they belonged together.

Talk about lucky.

CHAPTER 11

Even though he’d been doing his best to come to terms with his attraction for Renzo since getting back to Sanctuary, Coleson hadn’t expected to suddenly be thrust back out with him where they were virtually alone. Okay, that might not quite be true as there were five others with them, even so, it felt that way since they spent pretty much every minute of every day together as they traveled from abandoned town to abandoned town.

That they were the ones sitting together in the front of the pickup truck while three Alphas; Westland, Raman, Oxley, and two Omegas; Wilder and Amesi were on horseback. Why it had been arranged that way, Coleson honestly didn’t know. Something about experience with horseback riding and being too sore to move without it.

At the time, it had seemed reasonable, but he was positive Amesi, who’d he’d been friends with his whole life, had never been on a horse. Yet, that first night they camped out, he hadn’t seemed to suffer from the hours of riding. Then again, his friend had worked on Lowen’s farm, so it was possible he was used to being on a horse.

“We have about ten miles before we hit the edge of town.” They were heading northwest, so they didn’t have to cross the river. It wasn’t ideal as it would lead them to what used to be Interstate 80, which would have been highly traveled when it was encouraged everyone move east of the Mississippi. But it would also take them through Des Moines, what used to be the state capital. It would likely be picked over, but because it had been a large city, they were hoping to find it not completely devoid of supplies.

Even though Lowen and his dads had already searched the surrounding towns, including Des Moines, they had mainly been looking for food and equipment for working their farm. Not medical supplies. With a lot of luck, they just might find what they need closer to home, but—if he was being completely honest—it was doubtful. Then again, the longer they were traveling, the more time he could spend with Renzo. He just wasn’t positive he was ready for that.

“That should put us there just in time for lunch.” As much as it pained him to admit, Renzo was correct. Not about the lunch part, but that it was an hour away. The roads were… well, they could hardly be classified as roads any longer. The potholes had potholes big enough to swallow their truck.

It would have been a lot faster if they’d just all traveled on horseback, but they’d been hoping to find enough supplies on this trip to fill up the bed of the truck. A few saddlebags weren’t going to cut it–they hoped anyway.

“According to Lowen, our first stop, Monroe, is fairly small, so it shouldn’t take us long to search it before moving on.” If they were lucky, they might just make it to the next town before stopping for the night.

“Unfortunately, that might mean we won’t find much, especially since it’s so close to Des Moines.” Renzo had a point, but they were stuck with their path since there were several waterways in other directions that might or might not have been passable.

Only because this was the route Lowen took to meet up with the other traders on land did they feel reasonably certain any overpasses were still standing. It didn’t mean they weren’t in other directions, but until they’d searched the routes they knew were still intact, they didn’t want to waste time on roads they couldn’t be sure were still standing.

“Fuck,” Renzo cursed as they came upon a huge…well, it couldn’t be called a pothole when three-quarters of the road was missing. Thankfully, when they edged along the grass on the side of the road, they hadn’t run over anything that had popped a tire.

They had started out with four in the truck's bed, but had already used one on the first day of their trip. It wasn’t a huge deal since there were vehicles that had been abandoned in every town, according to Lowen. Car dealers and rental places were the most abundant Lowen had assured them. But they also had to make it to a town to find more. Something they hadn’t been certain would happen after losing a tire within three hours of leaving Sanctuary.

“Too bad none of us know how to repair roads.” Actually, now that they’d moved to Sanctuary, Coleson was realizing there were a lot of things they should have been learning to do to sustain a town outside of the amenities east of the Mississippi. “I probably should have been studying that instead of something as useless as law.”

Renzo’s face scrunched up in a scowl as he turned his head to glance at Coleson before concentrating on the severally disintegrating road. “How is the law useless?”

Coleson couldn’t stop from barking out a laugh. He gestured around them. “What good is it going to do me out here where there are no laws? Not to mention, I wasn’t able to actually go to college since I’m nothing but an Omega. It’s not as if I actually have a degree.”

Renzo was frowning but said nothing for several minutes, even though Coleson could tell he wanted to. Then, as if he just couldn’t stop himself any longer, Renzo said, “Tell me something. Why law? What was it about it that fascinated you enough to study it even though you couldn’t go to school?”

Anger, frustration, and passion surged through Coleson as he thought about how he’d wanted to help his fellow Omegas. “Because it is the one tool that might actually make a difference in this fucked up world.” He knew he was too loud considering they were sitting a foot apart in an enclosed vehicle, but he just couldn’t help it.

“This world sucks for Omegas. We’re treated like we don’t even matter and no one is willing to do anything about it.” That was what frustrated him the most. There were Alphas that claimed it wasn’t right, but none of them seemed willing to actually do anything about it.

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