Page 44 of Cora

An evil idea came to be, and I grinned wickedly as I collected my large soup pot, a lighter, and a packet of firecrackers. Carrying everything back to the bedroom, I set the pot down in the middle of the floor, lit the fuse, and dropped the firecrackers into the pot. I quickly moved to the other side of the room and plugged my ears as explosions filled the room.

They couldn’t sleep through that. All four snapped awake, yelling and grabbing the closest object to defend themselves from the attack. I stood in the corner laughing so hard that tears streamed down my face as they looked around in confusion.

“Cora,” Isaac growled when he finally spotted me.

I tapped the non-existent watch on my wrist and gestured for him to hurry up. We were burning daylight. Oh great, now I sounded like Daddy.

While I waited for Isaac to get dressed and pack, I unplugged the iPad and slipped it into a cross-body bag. This way, if I needed to communicate something to Isaac, I would not have to dig through my backpack.

“Ready,” Isaac announced.

I looked him over thoroughly before nodding. Daddy’s hunting clothes fit him well. I gestured for him to follow me, and we left the warmth of the house to the frigid temperatures of the early mountain morning. As I stepped off the porch, my feet crunchedin the freshly fallen snow. We had our first official snowfall overnight. That was good news for our hunt. The animals would be slightly more lethargic as they acclimate to colder weather. They would also be more active as they made their final push for food before winter was in full swing.

We hiked further up the mountain to an area I knew would be ripe with potential kills. This was my and Daddy’s favorite place because we could usually come home with a deer or two, if not a bear. I was hoping for both today. The fresh snowfall aided us even more up here because I could better track the animals moving through the forest. When I spotted fresh bear tracks, I stopped and typed a message to Isaac. I had turned the volume all the way down so that we didn’t accidentally scare off any nearby animals, so I turned the screen so that he could read my message.

“Fresh bear tracks. Step where I step and don’t make a sound.”

Isaac nodded his understanding. I put the iPad away and checked my gun to make sure I had a round in the chamber and that the safety was off. I followed the tracks on silent feet only when I was sure I was prepared to take the bear down. We had been following the trail for the better part of fifteen minutes when the sound of the bear’s grunts floated in the breeze. I slowed my approach, not wanting to walk right into it or tip it off that we were there.

I tapped my ear and pointed in the direction of the bear. I wanted Isaac to hear the bear so he would know what one sounded like. After a few more grunts, Isaac nodded his head. I set my bags down and crept closer. I stopped behind a group of bushes and peeked over them. Twelve feet away, in a small clearing, was a black bear munching on berries. It looked like a decent size, which pleased me. We would get a lot of meat from this animal.

Hindsight is twenty-twenty, and I realized I should have discussed where to shoot the animals before we left the house with Isaac. Now, we didn’t have the time. After we took the bear down, I would revisit the topic. I motioned for him to stay behind the bush and move to the bear’s side in a better position. Clearing my head and relaxing my body, I took aim and shot the bear in the side, right where the lungs should be.

The bear roared in pain, turning in a circle, searching for the threat. I could already see him weakening, so I stood, getting his attention. The bear tried to stand on its hind legs in a show of power, opening up its heart for my second bullet, allowing me to put the animal out of its misery for good. I approached slowly, chambering another bullet just in case the bear still had a bit of a spark of life in it. Thankfully, it was dead.

“That was amazing!” Isaac exclaimed when I waved him forward. “Derrick will be so happy when we come home with this beast! So now what do we do? Start dragging it back to the house?”

I shook my head. We were more than a mile from the house, and he thought we would have to drag this three-hundred-pound bear back? It was a good thing that I was here. I went back to my pack and grabbed the tools I would need. With Isaac’s help, I field-dressed the bear, reducing the weight we’d be carrying by nearly half. Once all the meat and fur were wrapped up, I chopped down a small sapling only a couple of inches wide and attached it to the tree using my rope. We held the tree between us and began the trek back to the house, sharing the load.

I hoped to spot a deer or two on the way back. I didn’t expect to find people instead. Isaac and I crouched above about ten people stomping through the forest.

“Hey, Queen! How close do you think we are to Christmas?” we heard one of the men ask the redhead balancing across a fallen log.

I exchanged a look with Isaac. Those guys that beat up Remi had mentioned a Queen. This must be her and the rest of her followers.

“I don’t know, but Terrence said he was getting me a present. Nobody is celebrating shit until we find him,” the woman replied.

It looked like Christmas would be canceled for Queen and her pals because Terrence wouldn’t be found any time soon. They weren’t headed toward the house, which led me to believe they didn’t know where Terence had gone. Unfortunately, if he had found us, it would only be a matter of time until the rest of them did. Isaac must have been on the same train of thought as me because he slowly raised his gun to aim at the people below.

Placing my hand on the rifle barrel, I lowered it and shook my head. This wasn’t the way. I wasn’t naive enough not to understand the ways of this new world, but that didn’t mean we had to compromise ourselves to survive in it. We watch them leave and don’t try to continue until their voices have faded away.

I had a feeling that wouldn’t be the last time we saw them.

Chapter twenty-two

Trent

“We don’t have time for breaks, Trent,” Isaac growled as he stomped past me. I sighed as I watched my brother go. Isaac had been on edge since he and Cora went hunting and spotted Queen and her crew in the woods. That was weeks ago. He was obsessed with fortifying the house and making sure we were well protected in case they found us. I was all for safety, but we could prepare for only so many things. My brother was determined to prepare for every possible scenario.

We already had new shutters on the windows that, with the pull of a rope, would all fall closed, leaving only a small part open at the bottom so that we could open the window and fire through it if needed. We finished that project before the first little cold snap happened. The cooler weather frustrated Isaac to no end because it meant he couldn’t force us to go outside and work. So, instead, he spent the time we were huddled up, going over different scenarios and how we could prevent them.

My eyes fell on Remi across the yard. That man has been confusing the fuck out of me recently. I loved him, but onemoment, it felt like he was pulling away from me, and the next, he was aggressively affectionate and on board with Cora. Remi still hadn’t spent any one-on-one time with Cora, and neither she nor I wanted to push Remi to do so until he was ready. If he ever was. Cora had joined us plenty of times, but I was always a buffer between them. I wasn’t complaining, but it still was cause for concern. I didn’t want to ruin what I had with Remi by being with Cora, but I also didn’t know how I could walk away from Cora. Even more confusing was that I knew Remi was as attracted to her as the rest of us.

I tried to talk to him about it, but every time I bring it up, he tells me that it’s his issue and he’s battling his demons and not to worry about it. How could I not worry about it when I felt like he had one foot out the door? As if he could sense my thoughts, Remi met my eyes. It felt like we were in the middle of some sort of standoff as we stared at each other for several seconds. Isaac interrupted before we could voluntarily break eye contact and then questioned what that meant.

“I need to go check the traps, and I think it’s important we continue to use the buddy system, so who wants to come with me?” Isaac asked. Cora immediately raised her hand, but Isaac was already shaking his head before hers was fully extended. “It’s too dangerous for you out there,” he told her. “It’s best if you stay home. Who else wants to go?”

Cora looked pissed, but my brother either didn’t notice or ignored her. Cora was more than capable of taking care of herself, and treating her like she wasn’t as capable as the rest of us wasn’t smart.

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