He Left Me to Die. Now I'll Survive Without Him! novel · Chapter 18 of 24

Chapter 18: The Guide

I made him stand at the cattle guard with his shirt off, in the cold, in front of everyone.

The flashlight went over his ribs, his wrists, his neck.

He was clean.

There wasn't a bite on him, only bruises and a split lip.

"See?" Brent said. His teeth were chattering. "I'm not infected. I'm not anything. I just want a place to sit."

"You're not coming in," I said.

"Lena."

"You can sit where you are."

The twelve from the bus stood in a clump behind the plow, watching.

The trucker with the barbed wire scar shifted his weight.

"He's the one who told us about your place," he said.

I turned my head.

"What?"

"He got on the bus at the county road, around five. Said there was a farm on a ridge with a spring and a cellar, and a medic who'd let us in. That's why we drove out here."

Brent held out his hands.

"I was trying to help them," he said. "I came to warn you, too. There's trouble. Trucks on the north road."

"Whose trucks?"

"Men with guns. Looters. I saw them hit the grocery in Marlow." He looked around for sympathy and found none. "I'm telling you the truth."

"Where's Shelby?"

He hesitated for a heartbeat.

"She didn't make it."

"How?"

"They took the truck. I couldn't go back for her." His voice wobbled. "Lena, I swear, I tried."

I didn't believe a word of it.

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