Emily McKay - The Lair

Food raids were the worst job. Ever.

Another faint sound emanated from what must have been the closet—a sound that was neither as innocent as rats nor as ominous as Ticks. A human sound.

If the person in the closet was a crazy, survivalist gun nut, wouldn’t they have already come out, guns blazing?

Unless, and the thought stopped Lily in her tracks, the person in the closet was a kid.

Carter

My eyes were heavy as I drove down the mountain. The road was sharp and winding, the pavement slick. Driving should have taken my full attention. Instead, I was damn near nodding off. Maybe Lily was right. If I couldn’t stay awake behind the wheel maybe the Elites were doing too much. But what was the alternative? Send untrained, untested Greens out to gather supplies and do patrols? Christ, it’d be like sending lambs to the slaughter. And if I wouldn’t send Lily out into the field—and she at least had combat experience—then I sure as hell couldn’t ask anyone else to go.

I briefly considered pulling over on the side of the road and taking a combat nap, but Taylor was still up on the mountain fiddling with the Romex wire and his solar panels. I’d left a couple of other Elites up there with him, so at least someone had his back, but I knew Taylor. He’d stay up there working away until I either brought him what he needed or he ran out of food. Either way, I figured I needed to do it quickly.

I was headed down the mountain, past Base Camp, toward Elderton. Since I didn’t want to surprise anyone, I picked up the satellite phone and buzzed Stu, who was heading up the supply raid in Elderton.

“Yo,” Stu said.

“How’s the raid going?” I asked.

There was a moment’s hesitation on his end. “It’s great. It’s going great. I can totally handle this.”

Maybe sleep deprivation was making me punchy, but he sounded a touch paranoid. I rubbed at my eyes, which were starting to feel like they were lined with sand paper. “Yeah. I’m sure you can.”

“Excellent. ’Cause I got this. Nothing’s going to happen.”

“Right.” Nothing happened on most food raids. They were pretty routine. The thing with the Tick attacking the guy before Lily, McKenna, and I arrived, that was the outlier. You had to be cautious, sure, but it was nothing a group of Elites couldn’t handle. “No, I’m sure you’re doing great. I just wanted to let you know I’m heading into town, too. I didn’t want to surprise anyone.”

“You don’t have to come check up on me. I’ve got this.”

“I’m not checking up on you. Taylor realized we’re going to need another inverter on the solar panels. He says he saw at least a dozen houses with solar panels when we did that first sweep of the town back in the fall. I know there are a lot of other towns where I could pick one up, but I figured I could get in and out of Elderton quickly, since you guys have already done a sweep today.”

“Oh, okay.” Stu sounded relieved. “I just didn’t want you to think I couldn’t take care of her.”

“Take care of who?”

Suddenly I was wide awake. Instinctively, I slammed on the brake and the car started skidding across the road. It spun to a stop just as Stu answered. I knew what he was going to say before he even spoke.

“Lily. She’s doing great, by the way. A little jumpy, but she’s handling it.”

I sat there for a moment, heart thundering in my chest, vision darkening around the edges, sucking in one breath after another. Finally, my voice was calm enough to ask, “Lily came on the supply raid with you?”

“Yeah.” Despite my attempt to sound calm, something in my tone must have tipped my hand because Stu sounded nervous. “She said you guys had talked about it. I never would have let her come if I’d known you hadn’t approved it.” Then Stu muttered a string of curses.

And now I looked like an idiot who’d been duped by his girlfriend, Lily looked like the bitch who went behind my back, and Stu felt like he’d betrayed me. Damn it!

“No, it’s fine,” I lied. Goddamn it! What the hell was she thinking? “We did talk about it. I just—” Jesus, I hated lying, but what choice did I have? “I didn’t think we’d settled it.”

“You sure this is okay?” Stu asked.

No. It wasn’t okay. It was pretty effin’ far from okay. Because Lily was in danger. Far more danger than Stu knew. “Just keep an eye on her, okay?”

“Yeah. Of course.”

I slipped the Hummer back into gear and eased my foot onto the gas. I glanced down at the paper map open on the seat next to me and did some quick calculations. “I’ll be there in less than twenty. Give me the address again.” I wrote it right on the map as I drove. “Probably more like fifteen minutes. And don’t let her out of your sight until I’m there.”

Lily

Lily crept across the floor and pressed her back to the wall. She stood there for a long moment debating what to do, her heart pounding so loudly she was sure whoever was in the closet could hear. Was this crazy? Part of her screamed that she should tiptoe back downstairs, grab Stu and Jacks, and get the hell out of there. But she couldn’t leave a kid alone here in this house. She just couldn’t.

“I’m going to open this door,” she said loudly. “I don’t mean you any harm. I’m here to help.”

Then she twisted the knob and yanked the door so it swung out opposite her. There was nothing. Just clothes hanging on the rods. Shoes scattered across the ground.

She flicked the light over the interior and that’s when she saw it. One of the shoes inched back. There was someone there. A kid in scuffed black Mary Janes.

“I know you’re there. I—” and then she broke off. What had this kid been through since the Before? How had she even survived? Lily used her most soothing voice, the one she used to use to talk to Mel when her sister was freaking out about something. “I know you’re frightened. I can help you.”

Nothing.

No more movement from the shoe. No rustling of clothes. Hell, as far as she could tell, the kid wasn’t even breathing.

On impulse, Lily added, “I have a younger sister.” Which wasn’t true. Mel’s autism always made her seem like the younger one. The one who needed to be taken care of.

“I would do anything to protect her.” Which was true. There just hadn’t been anything she could do. Lily felt a surge of anguish rise up inside of her. How was it possible that Mel was gone? Maybe forever. How had she let that happen?

“I know there are a lot of things to be afraid of, but I can help you. I can keep you safe.” Again, a lie. In the world they lived in now, no one could keep anyone safe. No matter how you tried to protect them. Wasn’t that what she’d told Carter just this morning?

“I can help you, but only if you come out. You can trust me.”

Gently, the row of clothes stirred. Fingers crept around the arm of a coat and then the girl stepped forward, out from between the clothes, into the beam from Lily’s flashlight. She blinked and held out a hand to shield her face.

Lily lowered the flashlight and flicked it off.

The girl was maybe six or seven and dressed in a faded cotton dress and leggings. Her dark hair fell in fat, messy ringlets, but it was her eyes that surprised Lily. She’d expected to see fear and caution; instead, they were bright with curiosity.

Lily crouched down to her level and held out her hand. “Hi, I’m Lily. What’s your name?”

A sickening thought occurred to her. What if the girl didn’t know her name? What if she’d been here alone so long she’d forgotten it?