Out Of The Ashes (The Ending Series, #3) (2 page)

2

ZOE

MARCH 24th, 1AE

Rocky Mountains, Colorado

“Potty break,” Dani said, halting
her paint horse, Wings, in the middle of the highway just ahead of me.

I’d been riding a brown mare named
Mocha since leaving the house in Colorado Springs, the others taking turns
staying close to me, since I had no clue what I was doing. Tavis was my current
companion, riding on my right. I liked him; he was a funny Australian man who
didn’t talk much, but when he did it was playful and put me at ease. Becca, the
woman sharing his saddle, seemed nice, though she hadn’t said much to
anyone
during the five-plus hours we’d been on the road. She seemed almost as lost
as I felt.

Dani struggled to dismount Wings using
only her right arm, since her left arm was cradled in a sling. She was
obviously in a lot of pain, despite the medicine the doctor, Harper, had given
her.

I glanced up ahead at Jason,
assuming he’d be charging toward us to help Dani in her flailing attempt to
dismount and chastising her for attempting it on her own. But he was at the
head of our parade line, talking to Chris and completely oblivious to Dani’s
self-dismount.

When Dani’s boots hit the ground,
she glanced toward Jason, then looked up at me, a sheepish grin on her face as
she brought her index finger to her lips. “Don’t tell him…”

I smiled and shook my head. I
liked Dani, a lot. She was fiery and peppy, and the ease with which she spoke
to me made it easier to cope with what was going on, like I had a friend who
would stay by my side no matter what. When she’d tried to explain to me what
had happened to the world, that we’d grown up together and had spent the last
three months trying to get to one another only to be separated by the Colony
again, I’d begun to freak out. The weight of reality and my lack of memories
and sense of self were all too much to bear at once.

But Chris had been quick to wrap
her arms around my shoulders, telling me that it would be alright, I just
needed time to readjust, and for some reason, that had made me feel better.
Dani had later explained that it was because Chris had the innate ability to
comfort people. Although I got the distinct impression there was more to Chris
than that—a nagging suspicion in the back of my mind—I liked the way I felt in her
presence and savored the reprieve of unwanted emotions when she was around me.

“Come on, Zo,” Dani said, holding
her good hand up to help me climb out of Mocha’s saddle. “Let’s go pee. You
never know…” She scanned the tall aspens on either side of the road. “We might
not find another woodsy spot before we stop for the night. Might as well take
advantage of the privacy while we have it.”

I considered the image of the two
of us standing side by side, best friends who, I’d been told, were so
completely altered from the last time we’d seen each other. Tiny little Dani,
with her bruised pixie face framed by wild, red curls, and me, tall, with an
unmarred exterior but hollow interior.
I wish I could remember…
But
having
been found inside the bedroom closet of an
abandoned house the night before was as far back as my memory went.

“Zo? You okay?” Dani’s brow
furrowed. “Do you need me to get Harper?”

I shook my head. I had a million
and one questions, but a pee break wasn’t the time to ask them. Instead, I
offered her what I hoped was a reassuring smile. “No, I was just thinking.” I
waved her proffered hand away. “I got it, Dani, but thanks.” I didn’t want to
hurt her by jerking her body around as I dismounted. “It’s only a couple feet.”
I’d decided it was much easier getting up into the saddle than it was getting
down, an art I was determined to master if this was going to be my
spot
during
our several-day journey.

While the others seemed all too
excited to meet up with the rest of our group, it meant that
I
had even
more people to “reacquaint” myself with. Dani had spent part of the morning
filling me in on my relationships with them. Now I just needed to remember all
that she’d told me: Sarah, apparently a friend I’d traveled with from the East
Coast, was pregnant; her boyfriend, Biggs, was a military man we’d met up with
along the way; Mr. Grayson was my high school history teacher and had been
traveling with Dani for months; and Jason’s best friend, Ky, and Ky’s older
brother, Ben, were waiting for us deeper in the mountains.

I stood up in the stirrups,
prepared to fling my leg over for an awkward dismount.

“Here,” Tavis offered kindly as he
strode up beside Mocha. I hadn’t even noticed him dismount his own horse. He wore
an easy smile, and his blue eyes crinkled in the corners where his smile
touched them. His dirty-blond hair was a little long and mussed from running
his fingers through it so frequently.

Caught off guard, I felt my heart
flutter a bit.

“Fling your leg over, and I’ll
help ease you down…”

Flashing him a brief smile, I did
as Tavis instructed. With one hand gripping the saddle horn and the other gripping
the edge of the saddle seat for leverage, I swung my leg over Mocha’s rump,
just like Dani had shown me. As I was about to lower myself to the ground,
Tavis’s hands grasped my waist, firmly but gently, and he helped lower me the
rest of the way down.

“It’s not mountain climbing, so
you’ll be a pro in no time,” he said as I pivoted around to face him.

“Thanks,” I chirped, and he
answered with a nod before he turned and headed back for his horse.

Turning around, I found Dani eyeing
me carefully. Jake, a man who hadn’t uttered a single word to me since they’d
found me but had taken to watching me with unnerving intensity, sat upon his
horse behind her, his gaze equally assessing.

“Jason,” Dani called ahead,
startling me. I looked up toward the front of the caravan as Jason turned
around in his saddle, his gaze questioning as it shifted between us. “We’re gonna
pee,” she said. “It might be difficult for you to keep nulling for a minute,
but we’ll be right back.”

Jason’s eyes hardened. “Be
careful.”

“Come on, Zo,” Dani said, biting
her lip. There was a hint of uncertainty in her voice. “There’s some stuff you
should know.” She hooked her arm in mine, and we headed toward the tangle of
bushes a dozen yards away.

“Dani,” Jake said, swinging his
leg over his saddle, clearly intending to come with us.

Dani shook her head at him and
patted the handgun in her shoulder holster. “We’ll be fine, Jake. I need to
talk to Zo for a sec.”

Although Jake didn’t seem pleased
with the decision, he remained in his saddle, his gaze shifting between us as
we turned away.

“Wait, Zoe—” Sam, a forward little
boy I’d spoken to only a few times, called from behind us.

“We’ll be right back, Sam,” I said
over my shoulder as Dani pulled me forward; I was practically stumbling as I
tried to keep up with her. “What’s—”

“Zo, I know you’re probably
exhausted and more than a little confused about everything that’s going on, but
you’re super close to getting yourself into a mess that you’ll regret later.”

Trying to stay at least partially
aware of where my feet were landing, I gave Dani a sidelong glance. Her bright
green eyes were a bit glazed over in the sunlight. I could tell the pain meds
were starting to kick in.

“What do you mean by ‘a mess’?” I
asked, near panting as we clumsily hurried through the underbrush and over
uneven ground.

“You’re with Jake,” she said.

I blanched and stopped, the abrupt
movement making Dani wince. “What?” A faint thrill wriggled down my spine.

“Yeah, for a few months now, I
think…” She shook her head. “What’s important is that you remember that,
especially when you’re chatting it up with Tavis.” She urged me toward the
berry bushes a few feet away.

Falling into step behind her, I
frowned. “But Jake hasn’t even talked to me.”

She snorted. “That
might
have
something to do with the fact that you don’t even know him anymore.” Pulling a
wad of tissues from her pocket, Dani handed me a couple, and then looked down
at her broken arm. “This is gonna be fun,” she muttered, and I tried not to
laugh, though I didn’t do a very good job.

I found that preoccupying my mind
with observing Dani, her little quirks that I was still trying to understand,
was a good distraction from all the things I was
supposed
to already
know, the things that threatened to overwhelm me and bring me to tears.

As we each squatted behind our own
cluster of bushes to do our business, I allowed my mind to wander, if only a little.
I considered what Dani had told me about Jake and me being together, and I
found it impossible to picture. He seemed so quiet and capable, it was a little
intimidating. I couldn’t even imagine having a conversation with him, let alone
being
with him. But in spite of my reservations, there was also a
mysterious air about him that was intriguing, and I was curious to discover
what the old me already had. The number of questions ticking through my head increased
exponentially.

Hearing leaves crunch beneath
footsteps on the other side of the shrubbery, I sighed and finished up. “Geez,
you’re fast.” I assumed I’d have to
help
Dani, not that she would leave
me in the dust. Jumping up to my feet, I zipped up my jeans and stepped out
from behind the tangle of leaves and branches. I froze.

Sam was standing a few yards away,
his bow drawn and an arrow aimed at the figure of a small girl standing between
us. Her back was to me, her blonde hair hanging in a knotted mess.

Sam’s expression was one of pure
horror—his pale eyes wide and his nostrils flaring—but his stance and aim were
unwavering.

“What the hell are you doing, Sam?”
I screeched.

“What’s wrong, Zo?” Dani called
from behind the bushes. But I was too focused on Sam and the little girl he was
prepared to shoot an arrow through to answer.

“Sam,” I said again. “She’s just a
little girl. Put your bow down.”

Dark brown hair hung in his eyes,
but he stared at her, unblinking, and I could see his uncertainty.

“Sam…”

As if hearing the scolding tone of
my voice had brought the little girl to life, she slowly turned around. At the
sight of her, my heart nearly stopped. The front of her nightgown was
covered
in dried blood, as were her arms and neck. Her face was doll-like, with crystal-blue
eyes wide and gleaming in the sunlight, and her porcelain skin was hidden
beneath what looked like weeks’ worth of layers of dirt and blood.

“Mommy?” The haunting pitch of her
voice sent chills up my spine.

“Jesus,” I breathed. “Are you
alright?” Although I had the innate urge to run away from the little girl, I
took a hesitant step toward her, wondering what the poor child had been
through.

“Zoe, get away from her!” Dani
said from behind me.

The little girl took a step closer
to me, her eyes narrowing and her lip curling into a snarl. Her body was
suddenly trembling, like her muscles were coiling to strike. Gritting her teeth,
she growled, “Mommy?”

As she lunged toward me, an
ear-piercing crack resounded through the air, and before she could take another
step, the little girl fell to a crumpled heap on the ground. A crimson patch
blossomed on her nightgown, spreading across her chest.

My hands flew to my mouth and I
screamed, tears trickling down my face. “Oh my God.” Turning around, I found
Dani, handgun drawn and still pointed where the little girl lay. Dani’s eyes
were wide, her face ashen, and her mouth hung open. “What have you done?”

Dani blinked several times, and
her gaze slowly shifted from the small body to me. Her eyes were filled with
shock and horror. “She was a Crazy,” she said, lowering her gun. “She was a
Crazy.” I wasn’t sure if she was trying to convince me, or herself. “I—I had
to…she was a Crazy…”

“A
what
?” I turned back to
the little girl and stared down at her. I was suddenly shaking uncontrollably.
“What the hell just happened?” I asked no one in particular. “She’s just a
little girl.”

I heard a rush of footsteps and
calling voices, but I couldn’t focus on anyone but the dead child lying
horrifyingly still on the ground. Her eyes were open and staring directly at
me.
She thought I was her mother…

“I’ve never seen a kid one before,”
Sam said, and I looked at him. “I tried to warn you.”

~~~~~

“This is gonna be bright,” Harper
said as he sat me down on a log beside the fire and clicked on a small,
near-blinding pen light. He shone it directly into my eyes. On instinct, I
tried to blink, but Harper wouldn’t let me; his fingertips were warm and firm
as he held my eyelids open.

“Sorry, Baby Girl, but I just want
to check one more time…”

Still trying to understand the
whole Ability thing Sam had explained during the last stretch of our journey, I
decided now was as good a time as any to start asking more questions,
especially since Sam was probably getting tired of being the one having to
answer them all. “Harper?”