Road's End: Apocalypse Riders Read Online Free PDF Page A

remember looking up and seeing trees where brick and concrete belonged.
    These weren't the actions of a man who wanted me dead. But there were worse things he could have in mind. And he still hadn't untied my hands.
    After a long swallow of water, I asked, "How bad's my side?" The fog was slowly starting to clear.
    "It bled a lot," he said. "I'm pretty sure you cracked a couple ribs. But you're going to be fine."
    I asked the next most important question, though I was afraid of the answer. "What do you want with me?"
    He cocked his head. "You thought I was attacking you."
    "I thought you were with them." I knew now that he wasn't. It was a rough ride away from the city - the type you make when you're trying to escape.
    "They were chasing me down. Like I told you, I wanted to lead them away. Keep you out of danger. I never would have sought you out in the first place, but... " He shrugged.
    "You were starving." He nodded. "So now what?"
    "I'm going to keep you safe." His eyes flashed with determination.
    "I was safe before you showed up. I'll be safe again once they leave." I held up my bound wrists. "Let me go." He shook his head. "So, you do have something else in mind."
    He grimaced. "No. I'm going to keep you safe." What he means is, "I'm going to keep you." But I wisely bit my tongue.
    "We have a community," he went on. "My brothers. Devil’s Ashes." He indicated his jacket. The club. Or more accurately, the gang. "We have a place. It's secure. You'll be safe with us."
    "I'm sure it's nice, but I've seen what happens when death gets inside."
    His eyes flickered to mine and back to the fire. "We all have."
    I closed my eyes. "I know what happens to women in this sort of world. I don't want to go."
    "It isn't like that. We aren't like that."
    "I don't want to go."
    But his face was like stone. It didn't matter what I said. "You'll see. Once we're there. You'll just have to see for yourself."
    I drank from the canteen and fell into silence.
     
    +++++
     
    I did develop a fever for a time. Without antibiotics, it was nearly impossible to prevent infection. We could only wait and hope my body would fight it off itself.
    We stopped at a farmhouse only a few days into our journey. I was doing a poor job keeping track of time, though I did develop a mental map of where we were in relation to the city. I clung to that image tightly.
    Adam pulled to a stop and helped me off the bike before hiding it in a shed and covering it with a canvas. I shivered with fever chills, and he rubbed my arms as we walked. For once, I didn't shrug him away. "Why are we stopping here?"
    "Pit stop. My brothers and I maintain it. There should be food and water here."
    "But you were starving."
    "I was being chased. This is the last place I'd lead them."
    Yeah, you just led them to me instead.
    I expected him to take us into the house, but instead he knocked on a door that led into a cellar. It was an odd pattern, definitely some sort of code. "Devil Went Down to Georgia," he explained, "So if one of my guys are down there, they won't shoot at us."
    There was no reply, so he opened the door and led me down into the dark. At the bottom of the steps he switched on a few battery operated lamps lining the walls.
    It looked like the previous owners had used the place as a bar - the far end had a long counter lined with stools, though the shelves behind it had no booze. The rest of the room held a few cots and sleeping bags, with makeshift curtains made of blankets hanging between old standing lamps and coat racks, giving anyone who slept there a little privacy. It was actually sort of cozy. He untied my wrists, and I sank to one of the cots with a heavy sigh as he disappeared behind the bar.
    "Not much in the way of food," he called, "Plenty of water, though. I'll trade our empty canteens." I don't know why he felt the need to inform me. I was going to go along with whatever he did no matter how much I didn't want to. Heal. Heal and then escape.
    He dropped a