Page 58 of Refuge (The Wanderers 2)

Chapter 17

Kester paced in front of the cabin, filled with nervous energy. He hated that they couldn’t return to the bunker. Staying here overnight was risky. He couldn’t be sure no one had heard Grecia screaming during the birth.

There was no way they could move Grecia and the baby back to the compound tonight. The sun was waning and neither of them would be able to travel. They also had limited provisions. A few bottles of water weren’t enough to properly clean the baby up, but Rush had done his best and gotten the little girl latched on to her mother’s breast.

Grecia needed to drink as much as she could, and she didn’t look like she’d eaten a decent meal in a long time. It was amazing how the human body supported the fetus above all else because the baby was at least six pounds and perfectly healthy while its mother was malnourished and in serious need of sustenance.

There was also the matter of the dead body next to the shack. Kester didn’t have the tools to bury the man, so he waited for Rush to stitch up his arm and Ariel to sit down with Grecia before he and Rush dragged the body as far away from the shack as possible. They pulled it into the tree line, found a dip in the ground, and covered it with branches and brush.

If an animal came in the night, it could pose a threat to the rest of them. This damn excuse for a shack could easily be knocked down by a large enough, determined enough animal.

As the minutes ticked by, he grew marginally calmer when no one else showed up. He let Grecia sleep for a while, but when she woke up to feed the baby again, he went back inside and squatted next to her to ask her some questions.

The baby was swaddled in a soft material Rush had brought in his pack. At least he’d been as prepared as possible.

“Was that man, Robert, the father of the baby?” Kester asked.

“I don’t know,” she whispered, not meeting his gaze.

Kester inhaled slowly. Fuck. “Did he come here with you and Cora?”

She shook her head. “No. We escaped a few weeks ago. We were trying to get as far away as possible and find some…better people.” She licked her dry lips.

Ariel lifted Grecia’s head from the other side and gave her a sip of water.

Kester forced himself to smile at her. “You’ve found better people now. You’re safe with us.”

“Cora?”

“She’s also safe. She’ll be at our compound when we get there.” He needed more information. “How far did you walk? Do you know what direction you came from?”

She swallowed. “We came from the west I think. We were moving east. It was hard for me to pay attention. I couldn’t move very fast.” Tears fell down her cheeks. “I just wanted to get someplace safe, you know? Any place but there.” Her lips trembled as she stared up at Kester.

Ariel stroked her head. “You made it, Grecia. You’re going to be safe.”

“How many people were you with?” Kester pressed.

“I was in a community of nomads. There are about twenty men in the group. Not good people. They were moving us west toward California, but then I was slowing the group down, so they left five of us behind.”

Kester stiffened. “You, Cora, Robert, and two others?”

She nodded.

“Men?”

“Yes,” she whispered.

“So you don’t know where the other men are, right?”

“No idea. Robert said they had spread out to track me and Cora. He found me a few hours before you got here. He was furious and wouldn’t listen to me that I was in labor. He told me to shut up, and when I kept moaning in pain, he gagged me and tied me up.”

“Okay,” Kester soothed. He was fucking nervous about the other two men, but at least now he knew what he was up against.

“Cora left me to go find help a few days ago. I wasn’t in labor yet, but she knew the baby was breech. She was worried.”

“She did the right thing,” Rush added.

Kester was smart enough to realize this could have gone very badly for mother and baby if he, Ariel, and Rush hadn’t shown up when they did.

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