Running Away - A Post-Apocalyptic Novel (The Ravaged Land Series Book 4) Read Online Free PDF Page B

and rubbed Penn’s shoulder. She slid out of the car after Alice and smiled at them both.
    I got out of the car and surveyed the area. The orange ground was dry and dusty, and the air was warm. I looked both Carter and Alice up and down carefully now that we were closer. Even though I wanted to check them for tattoos, I resisted the urge. I was somewhat surprised, since they were resistance, that they didn’t ask to check us over.
    “So you’ll come with us?” Sienna asked after Alice stifled a cough. Carter and Alice looked at one another and then at the exact same time they nodded.
    “Let’s go,” Penn said, already at least ten feet from us. He was leading us away from the interstate. I moved my feet in his direction and hoped it wouldn’t be a mistake leaving the road.

4
    four.
    I wasn’t completely sure if we were even traveling in the direction we wanted to be heading, but Penn probably knew what he was doing. We had nothing. No water, and we were heading out into the Utah wilderness, but I knew he had his reasons for leading us this way. He didn’t want to run into any more trouble.
    We took frequent breaks… not because we wanted to, because we had to. We were all tired, hungry and thirsty. Penn repeated randomly that we weren’t going to find water or food if we didn’t keep moving.
    “Are we even going the right way?” Sienna said trying not to sound like she was whining. But she was definitely whining. I was pretty sure even our new travel companions could tell.
    “Yes,” Penn shouted over his shoulder, barely glancing in her direction. He stayed a solid ten feet in front of us at all times. If I sped up to try to catch him, he just moved his feet faster. He was trying to scout out the area before the rest of us could get close. If there was danger lurking, he wanted to be the first to find it so he could take care of it.
    Penn was probably looking for signs of HOME, the resistance, road pirates or other threats we weren’t even aware existed. I had to hope none of those things would be out here in the middle of nowhere. Those people probably stayed closer to the roads where they could find supplies, if they needed them much easier than they would out here.
    “Ah-ha!” Penn said showing his first smile since… well, I don’t remember the last one. It was probably weeks ago, maybe months.
    “What is it?” I said narrowing my eyes at him. He sounded excited which was definitely promising, but I was still worried. Nothing ever seemed to go our way… I didn’t want to get my hopes up.
    “It’s water!” he said, kicking up some dust as he ran away towards the riverbank. I looked over my shoulder at Dean who was wearing a big, bright smile even though he was rubbing his wounded arm.
    I picked up my pace and saw the beautiful river come into view. It was a fairly wide river with dark blue waters sparkling as it flowed gently.
    The others surrounded Penn and me, and looked out at the river almost in disbelief. Penn was kneeling down on a rock, dipping his hand into the water as it rushed by. He lifted his hand up to eye level and turned it, letting the water run out, as if looking for something.
    Alice ran up next to him and splashed her hands into the water. She formed a cup-shape and was about to suck down a mouthful of water when Penn swatted her hands down.
    Carter took a step past me as if he was worried about what Penn might do. I stepped to the side blocking his way and looked up at him through squinted eyes.
    “It’s not safe to drink,” I said, and Carter looked down at me as if I had been speaking another language.
    “But what choice do we have?” Sienna said, shaking her head at me like I was the one stopping everyone from drinking the possibly bacteria ridden water.
    It wasn’t my fault. I wanted to drink it just as much as everyone else did, but we had nothing to filter or boil the water with. Not a single thing we could use to make the water safe to drink. Sienna was right,