Page 47 of Shelter (The Wanderers 4)

“It would appear so. And tonight that’s us,” Storm agreed.

“I pray that’s a bathroom in the corner,” Haley murmured as she pulled free of Braylon and made her way in that direction.

Rush hurried ahead of her with a second light and opened the door. Indeed, it wasn’t much, but she was relieved. Or she would be. He handed her the flashlight, and she quickly shut the door of the tiny room, set the light on the floor, and used the toilet that led to God-only-knew where.

When she rejoined the men, they were in the middle of the room, trying to get situated on the pallet.

“Come lie down, baby,” Braylon said, reaching for her. “You need to get as much rest as possible. And we need to turn these lights out.”

She lowered herself into the middle of the expanse of blankets and sighed as she dropped onto her back. The stress was getting to her.

Both lights were extinguished next, leaving them once again in darkness.

“If we keep getting tucked into dark spaces, I’m going to know more about what’s in your minds than on your faces,” Rush joked. “I’ve barely spent enough time with all of you to recognize you in a crowd, but I’ll know what your favorite foods are if everyone lists them off.” He laughed.

Haley smiled. “Mine is peanut butter.”

“Ah. Good choice. We have a few people who make amazing peanut butter at the main compound,” Rush informed them as he sat near her feet and pulled her shoes off.

She loved how he so intimately took care of her as if they’d known each other for a long time. She almost groaned when he started rubbing her soles.

“How many bunkers are there?” Braylon asked.

“Several. They’re scattered around several miles. If anything ever happens to one, there are other options. It’s safer that way, but the main compound is the largest and houses the most people.”

“You mean you live in them?” Haley asked. “Underground?”

“Yep. Most of the time. It’s an enormous operation. We have all kinds of connections and farmland. Everything we need. But most importantly, we have autonomy and freedom.”

“When you mention autonomy, you’re talking about women having rights,” Riggs stated for clarification.

“Exactly. The women in our group make their own choices. Everyone contributes to society in some fashion so many of them have jobs within the bunker or even outside the bunker. It’s not particularly safe for women to go outside, so we’re protective and do everything in our power to ensure they aren’t captured, but no one will tell them what they can and can’t do.”

“Are there children?” Haley asked, worry eating at her since she was pregnant.

“Yes. Lots of them. They’re often raised in large family units with multiple fathers.”

“That’s amazing,” Braylon commented as he propped himself on his side next to Haley. She only knew this because she could hear his voice coming close to the side of her face, and he set his palm on her stomach.

Haley smiled at the thought of so many like-minded people in one place. “I love children. I used to help the little ones at the girls’ home. I love their innocence and inquisitiveness. I wish I’d had the right to teach them more valuable things than I was permitted.”

Rush continued to rub her feet. “Then you might like to see about working either in the nursery with the youngest ones or the classroom with older children.”

“That would be amazing. I probably don’t have enough education myself to teach anyone, but the little ones…”

Rush gave her foot a squeeze. “Don’t you worry. You’ll have access to every sort of thing you want to study. If you love soaking up knowledge, you’ll never run out. You can take classes yourself and I bet you’ll be able to teach others in no time if that interests you.”

Haley sighed, letting herself soak in the idea, praying it would come to fruition. Right now it still seemed like a far-off dream.

“I’ve never asked what line of work you two were involved in,” Rush questioned. “I know Storm has been Haley’s bodyguard for a while, but Riggs and Braylon?”

“Water treatment,” Riggs informed him. “Our fathers developed a state-of-the-art technology before we were born and it proved to be invaluable after the collapse of society. They were already pretty high on the food chain before The Republic was formed, and they easily joined the aristocracy as important members of the upper echelon.”

“Are you shitting me?” Rush asked. “That’s fantastic. Do you both know enough about this technology to implement it where we’re going?”

Braylon answered him. “Yes. We joined our fathers a few years ago and have learned everything we could absorb in the hopes we would one day take over the family business.”

Riggs chuckled sardonically. “They’re going to shit when they realize they’ve lost their twenty-four-year-old protégés.”

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