Page 13 of Us Deadly Few

“Okay, but if I have to pee in the middle of the night, I’m not gonna get shot, right?” Adan looked back and forth between them.

Khalani rolled her eyes and picked up her bag. “I’ll set post over there.” She pointed to a large brown vehicle that may have been white in the past but was covered in layers of rust. “You guys should get some sleep.”

She strode right past Takeshi, ignoring him completely, and threw her bag onto the car’s hood. Raising her arms behind herback, she let out a groan as the cracks and pops of her stiff muscles echoed in the stiff quiet.

After a moment, Khalani lifted herself on the hood and leaned back against the windshield. One hand rested on the gun in her lap, and the other crooked behind her head.

Soon after, the soft sound of snores filtered through the space. To keep herself occupied, Khalani imagined colors painting across the concrete ceiling. She attempted to conjure a myriad of greens, reds, and purples, reminiscent of the aurora borealis Winnie had once shown her in prison.

But no matter how hard she tried, no image came forth.

Like a thick wall had permanently covered her mind.

All she could see were the Governor’s piercing blue eyes staring back at her. And he never stopped smiling.

As if he knew something she didn’t.

3

A woman’s worth isn’t in her beauty.

It lies in her resilience.

The heat of the blazing sun was relentless.

Hour after hour, sweat beaded down the side of her neck, dripping down her sore calves. She glanced at Winnie, her heart tightening with concern.

Winnie’s pale skin had taken on a greenish hue, and her gait had slowed progressively. Derek changed the dressing on her wound once more, and they took turns supporting her.

“What’s that?” Serene pointed ahead to a grey building just off the side of the road.

A tall sign stood high over the abandoned structure, displaying white numbers that read:$30.99per gallon.

Her eyes shifted to the pallets of wood covering the windows, spray-painted with the words: WE ARE OUT OF GAS. The red block letters were barely legible, like the writer hastily scribbled the message while drunk.

Strange black pillars lay crumbled about outside the building. Even more bizarre was the tiny car folded in on itself like origami, with one pillar piercing its front windshield.

A dull red sign hung crookedly on the front of the building: AS STATION.

“Ass station?” Adan drawled.

“Gas station.” Brock prowled forward, kicking stray debris out of the way. “I’ve rested here on previous runs across the Death-Zone. The infrastructure is solid enough. We can rest here for ten minutes and ten minutes only.” He flicked an irritated gaze toward Serene.

“Yeah, yeah.” Serene waved him off and stepped through the open door, shards of glass crunching under her boots. Khalani swallowed, following her inside.

The interior was a warzone.

Shelves were toppled over. Broken glass was everywhere. Dust specks were visible in the sunlight that streamed through a gargantuan hole in the roof.

A part of her didn’t even want to know how that happened.

“There’s really nothing left,” Derek said, his voice a mix of wonder and dismay as he stepped into the grimy space.

Khalani flinched when a lone cockroach crawled along the back wall and disappeared under an empty cardboard box.

“They’re all like that,” Brock said in a low voice. “Nearly all the stores on the road were picked clean. Some things were forgotten, though.” The corner of his mouth quirked up, the most relaxed she’d seen him, as he headed straight for the back corner.

Her brows furrowed as Brock pushed aside some dusty shelves on the floor, revealing a stack of papers with colorful images painted on top.

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