Here (26 page)
Authors: Denise Grover Swank
Tags: #Juvenile Fiction, #Science Fiction, #Fiction, #Apocalyptic & Post-Apocalyptic, #Love & Romance, #On the Otherside Book One
“
You don’t know it was him.”
“
EVAN!” I scream. If he’s alive, he’ll answer.
Silence.
“
Come on.” Reece grips my wrist. We jog to the trucks, even though the dense smoke pouring out of the building makes it difficult to breath. “We’re going to have to get out of here. It may only be a smoke bomb, but it’s still going to bring the fire department.”
I shake my head so hard I lose my balance. “Not without Evan.”
“
I’m giving him two minutes, Julia. Two. Then we leave. No fighting me this time.”
I lean against the side of the truck, biting the fleshy part of my finger. I know Reece is right, yet I don’t know that I can leave Evan. What if he’s hurt? What if he needs us?
Reece opens the driver’s door to the truck and climbs inside. He hops out a few seconds later, reaching a hand toward me. “Come on.”
“
No!”
He reaches me in two long strides and roughly grabs my arm. “We’re not leaving yet, but we’re taking this truck. We’re getting in so we’re ready.” His eyes are wild and give him a primal look with his soot-covered face.
I stumble to the door. Reece pushes me in and I search through the windshield, my vision blurry with my unshed tears. I strain to listen.
Reece stands next to the open door. “Evan!”
Silence.
We wait what seems an eternity.
Reece’s shoulders slump and he hangs onto the side of the door, then stands, cold determination on his face. “It’s time.”
I don’t fight him this time, only slump in the seat as he climbs in and starts the engine. He shifts gears and looks at me. “Hold on, this is going to be bumpy.”
The truck rumbles forward and I blink back my tears so I can scan the trees. Reece maneuvers around the bodies littering the road. He’s heading away from the town.
He casts a glance toward me. “We can’t go back to Springfield. We’ll have to take our chances in the wild.”
I don’t care where we go.
We clear the bodies and reach the other side of the portal. Reece stops, searching the forest. A gunshot rings out.
Evan’s still out there somewhere. If the roles were reversed, he’d never leave me. I grab the door handle and open. “I’m not leaving him.” I jump out the door and run around the front of the trunk, toward the woods.
“
Julia! Come back!” Reece jumps out and curses as he follows me.
I enter the eerie forest as my heart pounds, my blood heavy with fear. A figure emerges from the shadows of the trees and I lift my gun. “Stop right there!”
“
What are you still doing here?” An irritated voice calls out. Evan limps from behind a tree.
I drop my arm and collapse to my knees, crying in relief.
Reece stands next to me. “What took you so long?”
Evan continues toward us, dragging his leg. “I got trapped by a bluff and only had one bullet left. I wanted to make it count.” His left pant leg is torn and blood stained. He sees the fear in my eyes. “It’s just a cut. I’m fine.” He pulls me off the ground into a hug.
I rest my cheek on his chest, clutching his jacket in a tight grip.
“
We need to get out of here,” Reece says. “Reinforcements are going to show up soon.”
I help Evan hobble to the truck. I climb in first and he slides in next to me as Reece settles in the driver’s seat.
Evan looks out the windshield then to Reece. “The wilds?”
“
Gotta better idea?”
“
Not yet. You still looking for your mother?”
Reece nods.
“
Good. She might be able to help us send Julia home.”
Reece and I look at Evan in surprise, but he refuses to elaborate as we drive into the dark and unknown.
Acknowledgments
I’d like to thank my daughter Julia for harassing me to write a book that “she could read.” She asked me to name the character after her, which I did with one caveat: If it got too weird I would change the character’s name. Lucky for her, I recognized two very distinct people. Julia Phillips is NOTHING like Julia Swank.
And I kind of like it that way.
I’d also like to thank Julia for being so excited about
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that she formed a book club comprised of eighth grade girls to beta read it. (And so did most of their mothers.) It was very exciting for me the night the girls broke out into an argument over who they preferred in the love triangle—Evan or Reece. Many thanks to Emily Cook, Megan Frerking, Grace Klausen, Shelby Reiff, Rachel Roberts, Brooke Sherman, and Allison Smith.
I also want to thank my son Trace Dixon. He was a tremendous help with the world building of Evan’s universe, letting me bounce ideas off of him during multiple power lunches. He claimed it was fun but it helped that he really likes lunches paid for by mom. It also helps that the Salty Iguana is his favorite Mexican restaurant.
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wouldn’t the book it is today without Trisha Leigh, my critique partner and awesome friend, who stuffed one young adult book in my hands after another when I told her I was going to write a YA next. And offered nothing but encouragement when I hit a plot wall and freaked out. “You’ll get it,” she said. “You always do.”
And last, I’d like to thank my editor Jim Thomsen, who always offers support and encouragement and makes my books so much better. Little did he know what he was getting into when I asked him to edit my first book.
About the Author
Denise Grover Swank lives in Lee’s Summit, Missouri and has two previously published, award winning books—
Twenty-Eight and a Half Wishes
, a humorous southern mystery and
Chosen
, a paranormal thriller/romance. Denise is the single mother of six children ranging in age from four to twenty-four. Her fourteen-year-old daughter is quick to point out what she gets wrong about teenage behavior in her books—and what she gets right.
You can find out more about Denise and her other books at
www.denisegroverswank.com
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