Ravaged Land - A Post-Apocalyptic Novel (17 page)

I went back down with Owen close behind me. We moved slower this time as we tried to think of other places to look. Seth and Sienna were now helping us look. Sienna found a storage bin filled with clothes she dumped out and brought up, and Seth found a gallon sized ice cream pail holding golf balls he handed to Owen. The storm raged on and the rain showed no sign of weakening.

“Oh my God it’s starting again,” Sienna whined. “What are we going to do?”

“We won’t be safe here when the tornadoes come,” I said as I started to pace nervously. I was trying to think of what we would need to do. My eyes darted to Ryan, but he looked calm and unconcerned. I pinched my eyebrows and shook my head at him.

Dean flicked the back window curtain open and looked outside, “I don’t think this is like before. There’s no hail. I don’t see any tornadoes.”

“I agree,” Ryan said not noticing Dean rolling his eyes at him. “I think this is just a good old fashioned thunderstorm.”

Every five minutes or so the smaller buckets were emptied. The mixing bowl overflowed a little a few times but we put towels around it to help from future spills. We had been quite lucky that there wasn’t much of a mess from the water before we had the water receptacles in place.

“Wish we could save the water and boil it. Seems like such a waste,” I said when we were all sitting in the living room listening to the storm. Unfortunately, we didn’t have any empty bottles to collect and store the rain water. I made a mental note to put it on the list for next time. Maybe they’d be able to get some of those big water jugs people used to use with water dispensers.

I was sitting on the couch far away from the window and chair that I had my breakdown in. Seth was next to me and Dean on the other side of him. Owen sat in the chair by the window and Ryan sat in the chair next to me, which had sort of become his chair. Sienna was lying on the floor with her pen in hand and notebook resting on her lap.

“Maybe the rain will cool things down,” Seth said ignoring my desire to start saving water and thinking only of his wish for things to cool down. Not that I could hold it against him.

We waited and waited for the storm to let up, taking turns emptying the buckets. The trip to town was postponed, and Ryan and Owen didn’t know what to do with themselves having the extra time. After a while they decided to go into the garage and see if they could find a way to lock down the garage door thinking no one would be venturing out today so they’d be less likely to be noticed.

They had been out there for hours. Sienna was scribbling away in her notebook and would glance towards the window every so often with a worried look on her face.

Seth went outside and turned on the generator after running it by Ryan first to make sure he wouldn’t mind. He had been sure to point out that no one would likely be out today to hear it. Ryan had agreed. Seth sat down by the fan and started watching a movie.

“What are you writing about?” I asked Sienna while munching on a pop-tart. We had lots of food and water stored up so missing a trip to town wasn’t a big deal. In fact we were set, they could have missed a lot of trips to town. But we never stopped worrying about how we would eventually run out of supplies. The more we had the better we had all felt. Our pantry was full, the basement was filling up more and more each day. But with every item we brought into the house and stored away a little bit of the anxiety went away. It would be nice to not have to rely on going to town. There could be a reason, like what had happened today, that would stop us from going to town and we’d need that stockpile.

“Keeping a journal. Documenting the new world… and writing some fiction. This is the third notebook I’ve filled.” She flashed me a drawing of a landscape of what our world used to look like. Below it was what things looked like now. “Just keeping myself busy I suppose,” she smiled.

“That’s amazing!” It really was. I was impressed, she was very talented. “You need more notebooks! Why don’t you write down some art supplies for their next trip?”

“The other things they bring back are more important, besides what would I do with it? Art isn’t necessary,” she shrugged.

“That’s arguable! You’re talented and one day things may go back to how they were if people rebuild.” She just shook her head at me as if I was being foolish but she had a small smile on her face happy about the compliment.

Dean had joined Seth in what appeared to be a movie marathon based on the amount of movies they had stacked on the end-table. I went upstairs to empty the buckets. It hadn’t been my intention to snoop but when I went into Dean’s room to empty the one in his room, I couldn’t help but notice his stack of survival books and a fairly large collection of fiction books. He had a backpack filled with survival supplies, probably things he had read about in his books. Was he planning on leaving us? Or was it just in case something happened to all of us and he was left alone? I obviously couldn’t ask and I wasn’t sure if I should say anything to Ryan about what I saw. Maybe he already knew and then I’d just look bad for being so nosy. It wasn’t like Dean would ever leave without Sienna.

I took the pail, emptied it in the upstairs bathtub, and returned it to his room. When I turned to go to the next bucket I’d bumped right into Dean’s chest. He put his hand on my back to steady me. I gasped and let a strange squeak escape from my lips. Dean had been so quiet I hadn’t even heard him come up, a new skill he acquired from his books perhaps. He hadn’t been there when I dumped the bucket, so thankfully he hadn’t seen me snooping. “Emptying buckets,” I explained as I took a step back and twisted my fingers together nervously.

“Yeah I figured.” His words were slow as he slid past me and spread out on the bed. He folded his arms behind his head, crossed his ankles and raised his eyebrow.

“Movie over?” I asked in the doorway.

“Yup. He’s starting another but I’m done, I don’t have movie stamina like Seth does,” he smiled, “But no one does.”

I disappeared into Sienna’s room where the smaller of the leaks was located and dumped out the bowl. Dean was so stealthy he’d gotten out of bed, grabbed a bucket and was at the bathroom ahead of me right as I got there to pour out the bowl. “How rude of me not to help,” he said brushing past me, making sure our bodies made contact. He looked down into my eyes with an adorable grin that made my cheeks warm. Could Ryan have been right about Dean having feelings for me? I started to feel uncomfortable, Dean was tall and attractive, and I didn’t fail to notice that. The truth was I just didn’t know much about him. It wasn’t like he was quiet and mysterious, I just didn’t know him, not from school and not even that well from our time together after the storms. I knew he cared about his sister, I knew he was good with a bow, or so he said, and that he was a decent cook. He had these brown eyes so dark they almost appeared black. They were captivating.

“Thanks for the help!” I looked up at one of the leaks, “We will have to get up there and fix these.”

“Yeah, I’m sure we can find something at a home improvement store for it, I can’t imagine a product like that is in high demand right now. We are probably the only ones looking to fix a roof,” he said again smiling at me. His smile was magical, I think my cheeks were at a full on blush. It was just the thought of him possibly having feelings for me that made me feel different when I was around him. Of course his feelings hadn’t actually been confirmed, it was just Ryan’s theory. And feelings or not he was still really hot. No matter, I was with Ryan now, I mean I think I was, I’m not sure it was official, but I hoped so. Dean would just have to deal with it and I wagered he’d manage to be just fine, it’s not like he knew me that well either.

“Ha! Yeah, you’re probably right. Well, thanks for the help,” I said as I walked down the stairs and he retreated back to his room probably to study his survival books.

When I came down into the living room, Ryan and Owen were in the kitchen re-boarding the door that led to the garage. Ryan saw me coming down so I felt I needed to explain since I figured he would still be uncomfortable about Dean and I being alone together. At least he had been the time before… that whole shower thing. At the same time, I also felt like I shouldn’t have to explain. That I should be trusted, but just to be safe I did it anyway, “Emptied buckets, this rain will not let up! Going to be a busy night of bucket emptying.”

I left for my room to throw myself into a book. Seth waved to me with powdered cheese coated fingers from his cheese flavored puffy snack as I walked past him.

Ryan knocked lightly before coming into my room. He sat down at the end of the bed to take his shoes off as if this was something he had always done. I had folded my novel in half across my knees as I listen to him tell the story of how they tried, but failed to secure the garage door. After he was finished talking, he leaned over to give me a kiss, just a normal kiss. I loved it. Then he asked about my day but I grinned stupidly at him since he had been present for half of my day. “What?” he asked.

“So, is this just how it is with us now?”

He smiled, “I hope so!”

“Me too,” I smiled back. “But what about the others?”

“I’m not sure yet,” he shook his head. “You have any ideas?”

“Not really, I’m not even sure it matters.”

“I think it will with at least one person.”

“Dean?”

Ryan nodded as he started to undress. He whipped his shirt off and tossed it on the chair and started to undo his pants, standing there only in his boxers. Then he climbed into bed with me and pulled the sheet half way over himself. Because of the rain the house was a little cooler, the sun hadn’t been beating down on it all day which gave us a slight break. I set my book down on the nightstand and curled up next to him. He kissed the top of my head, “What a day huh?”

“Sure was.” I snuggled closer. Being in this spot was peaceful, my mind was quiet and I felt completely safe. His skin was warm, soft and smooth, I wanted to feel it against every inch of my skin. We lay there listening to the rain pound into the window and the rolling thunder. It was incredibly relaxing and before we knew it we were both sleeping.

Chapter fifteen.

Dean was sitting at the kitchen table looking miserable. His hair was messed up, and he had dark circles under his eyes. I had asked him if he was doing OK.

“Yeah, Owen and Sienna slept through the night, I had to empty those buckets like every hour on the hour and that damn bowl overflowed several times. You know you could have come up to help,” he said only half teasing. In his sleep deprived state he hadn’t bothered to hide the ounce of truth he left lingering in his words. His agitation seemed focused on me which I guessed was because I had been the one to ask him about it.

“Oh God Dean, I’m sorry! You’re absolutely right!” I said feeling terrible.

“Ah, it’s over and done with now,” he said quickly as if he noticed how bad I felt. “The rain stopped about an hour ago, I’m just going to tell Ryan I’m not going to town today. I need to stay and catch up on some sleep instead.”

“Oh, OK. Sorry,” I said taking a long drink from a bottle of cool Gatorade. Having the generator on so long yesterday chilled the fridge well enough that some of the things inside were still cool. Although, I wasn’t sure when the generator had been turned off since Ryan was with me the whole night. “If you want I can tell him and you can go up…,” I said as Ryan exited my room and came to the kitchen. I was positive Dean saw where he’d come from but he didn’t say anything and his expression hadn’t changed.

“Tell me what?” Ryan asked. At least he had put his jeans back on and hadn’t come strutting out in his boxers.

“Dean’s not going—”

“I’m skipping the town run today,” he said interrupting me. I ignored it and chalked it up to his lack of sleep or maybe it was a guy thing, a power thing, a ‘he just came out of your bedroom what the hell’ thing.

“How come?” Ryan asked raising his eyebrows.

“I’m just not, shouldn’t that be good enough reason for you?” Dean said sounding as if he was trying to start an argument. “I don’t have to tell you everything all the time, man.” He got up and slammed the chair against the table. His feet pounded hard against the stairs as he sprinted up to his room.

I waited until I heard him close his door. “He was up all night emptying the buckets,” I whispered.

“Shit.”

“Yeah, he’ll be OK,” I said sounding more sure of myself than I was.

“I don’t know about that.”

“Why do you say that,” I asked squinting up at him as if his face was as bright as the sun.

“He saw me leave your room,” he said as he slipped around me and gave me a well hidden pat on the behind. I popped up on my tip-toes as the little gesture had taken me by surprise. I smiled at him fully enjoying our little secret.

“He’ll be fine!” I said trying to convince us both. I left the room to go change my clothes and get ready for the day. I washed up with a bottle of water and brushed my teeth. Then I walked to the room I now practically shared with Ryan and put on a light weight button down shirt with a striped pattern and a pair of skinny jeans. It was one of the outfits I had that looked good, at this point I had lots of clothes to pick from and could manage to find a decent outfit every so often. I pulled my hair back into a loose ponytail and thought I looked all right considering I hadn’t been able to pick out any of my own clothing.