Runner Series (Book 1): Runner 3 (8 page)

“Oh my, this is beautiful. This is more than I could have asked for,” Roslyn beamed at the simple house with tears in her eyes. “Jordy here did his best in Artesia, but with my needs we couldn’t stay in the base where there were only tents to live in. He barricaded our home during the nights, but it was still horrifying.”

“The screeches and screams all night were almost more than we could handle. Especially when they were so close,” Jordy set their bags on the front step and turned to shake Audrey’s hand. “We can’t thank you guys here enough for taking us in.”

“You won’t have to worry about safety behind the walls,” Audrey assured them. “The Howlers will still come out at night and you’ll be able to hear them at night from a distance, but inside Roswell we’re safe.”

Mrs. Bates took Audrey’s hand and held it to her soft, wrinkled cheek, “Thank you so much for making my final weeks on this Earth bearable, sweetheart.”

Audrey gave Mrs. Bates and Jordy their house keys and simple instructions to places like the market and the library.

“Let me know if there’s anything I can do for you guys. You can put in requests with the Runners at the City Council’s office in the Fairfield Inn on Main Street,” she said before leaving them to get comfortable in their new home.

The group marched on to the next two houses, which were close to the Bates’s house. They were where Jacob and Julianne were going to live.

Jacob was placed in a large yellow split-level house that housed a few other single men.

“This is nice,” he said to Julianne with a sad smile.

She nodded and looked around the yard wistfully, “It’s got a nice feel to it. I’m sure you’ll like it.”

Jacob inched closer to Julianne, “Do you think you’d like to visit me some time?”

“Absolutely,” she said shyly.

Audrey fidgeted uncomfortably watching their exchange, “Um, there’s an old Albertson’s just a block away from here. We usually have a small market set up there on Saturdays.”

“That’s convenient,” Jacob put his arm around Julianne’s shoulder.

“Yeah,” Audrey agreed. “Julianne, you actually live really close to here. You’re just a street over.”

“Really?” The woman asked, her eyes brightening.

“Yeah, your house is just…” Audrey looked at the paper and then pointed down the street. “Three houses down on the other side of the street.”

“That’s awesome,” Jacob said squeezed the girl’s shoulder. “We could hang out a lot more often, Jules.”

“I’d like that,” she said and blushed when she looked at everyone watching their public display of affection.

They didn’t have come out and say it for Audrey to figure out they were excited by the arrangement because they were dating.

It made Audrey happy to know that there were people out there who could still do something as simple as dating someone they like.

Anna was a chatty girl and she was next on Audrey’s list. She had talked to Lincoln the entire walk with few breaks in her endless stream of useless information while they were dropping people off at their new homes.

“I used to play girls’ lacrosse,” she told Lincoln with a big smile. “I was super into sports.”

“That’s cool,” he said politely.

“What about you?” She looked him up and down. “You look like you were a sports player.”

“I played a little football in high school,” he admitted. “Whenever I went to family gatherings I would play rugby with my cousins.”

“Oh, is rugby like an ethnic kind of football?” she asked.

Lincoln stared at her with an open mouth, “What? No, not really. Is that a real question?”

“Well, I mean, I’m not racist or anything, but I’ve never heard of rugby until now. I figured it’s a black guy thing,” she said in her high-pitched voice that irritated Audrey.

Lincoln looked away from and focused his gaze on the sky, “Saying you’re not racist doesn’t mean you can say something racist. I’m not black either, I’m Tongan.”

Anna didn’t seem to have anything else to say until they got closer to her house and Audrey was grateful for that. The sound of the girl’s voice was enough to make her want to purchase ear plugs or a gag.

“Your house is near the old Sears,” Audrey informed the girl.

“Oh, is it still open?” Anna asked excitedly.

“No, Sears has been closed for a while,” Audrey rubbed her temples in small circles.

“Oh well, it’s too bad there really aren’t any running department stores anymore,” she chattered. “If Sears was still open I’d be going every single day!”

“That sounds like fun,” Audrey humored her. “Here are your keys. If you need anything contact the Roswell Council or Dean, he’s the guy who’s over the Runner program.”

“Thanks!” Anna said excitedly gave Audrey an awkward one-armed hug before opening the door to the house. “Do you guys want to come in for a drink or anything?”

Audrey shook her head and screwed up her face with feigned disappointment, “Sorry, we really can’t stay. I’m on a pretty tight schedule today and I need to get Lincoln to his house before I have to start my other tasks for the day.”

“Oh, that’s too bad,” Anna’s countenance dropped momentarily. “Well, we’ll for sure have to set something up for later!”

“Definitely,” Audrey smiled and walked away from the house with a tiny wave and blew out relieved sigh when she shut the door.

“I guess this means it’s just you and me for a while,” Lincoln wiggled his thick eyebrows suggestively.

“I guess so,” she laughed and led him towards Main Street so she could show him around on their way to his new house. “Your new place is a few blocks from here.”

“Is it close to where you live?” He asked and pointed at the street lamps that had alien faces on them. “Those are super cool.”

“I guess they are,” she shrugged. “I stopped paying attention to them after a while. My house isn’t too far from yours. It’s a little less than half an hour when you’re walking.”

“I guess I’ll just have to run,” Lincoln winked at her.

Audrey laughed nervously and tried to quell the butterflies that erupted in her stomach, “That’s probably the cheesiest thing anyone has ever said to me.”

“I aim to please,” Lincoln chuckled and repositioned his ruck sack on his back.

“So, did you get a choice on where you went after they told everyone Artesia was being disbanded?” she inquired trying to sound as innocently as possible.

“Yeah, there were a few choices,” he looked around at the store fronts. “Some people decided to stay in their old homes.”

“But, you chose Roswell?” A knot of tension wound up in her stomach while she watched him point at the murals of aliens and UFOs on the buildings enthusiastically.

“Well, I did say if I ever came up this way I’d look you up, Audrey Campbell,” he turned to look at her. “So, I had a reason to come here.”

“I didn’t think you’d remember that,” Audrey looked at her hands, pretending to be interested in her fingernails so she wouldn’t seem as excited as she really was.

“It wasn’t that long ago,” he snapped his fingers nervously. “So, what have you been up to since I last saw you?”

“Not a lot,” Audrey felt lame saying she hadn’t been up to much. It made her feel useless, “I’ve been helping the childcare workers at the library and we have a new training we’ve been going through to help with hand to hand combat. It’s actually been pretty fun—except for the part where we’re going to have to start purposely going out to kill the dregs.”

“I wouldn’t want to do that,” Lincoln said with a sympathetic shudder. “Why do you guys have to do it?”

“Because there really isn’t anyone else who wants to. One of our Runners just died recently too,” she sighed and looked at her shoes. “It’s going to be hard to find someone good enough to replace him.”

“I hope you can find the right person to fill his spot. What are you doing after you take me to my new house?” he asked.

“I have to go to the Runner’s Field outside the north gate for training in a little bit. We only have a short amount of time we can do our training since the dregs are coming out during the day now,” she scrunched her nose up. “I don’t really want to go though. Walking around all day should count, right?”

“Absolutely, it should,” he swung his duffel bag onto his back and held out his hand. “Give me see your bike.”

She narrowed her eyes and hesitantly gave him the handle bars. She watched him straddle it and adjust the height of the seat.

“Your chariot awaits, Miss Campbell,” he smiled and patted the middle of the handle bar.

“I don’t know if that’s a good idea,” she protested with a raised eyebrow and a grin. “I really do have to go.”

“Come on. Let’s have a little bit of fun before you have to go back to your new ‘training regimen’,” he imitated Mr. Davies. “It’ll be fun.”

She rolled her eyes and started walking toward his house again.

“Oh, come on,” he persisted following behind her on the bike. “We could go for a quick ride before you have to go.”

“Maybe I don’t want to go,” she crossed her arms over her chest.

“Sure you do,” he pointed at her face. “I can see it in your pretty blue eyes. You’re dying to have a bit of fun.”

“I wouldn’t say dying,” she giggled.

“Okay, how about… Yearning? You’re
yearning
to have fun before you go off to a boring training where all you’ll do is run around,” he smiled at her and she knew she couldn’t argue because it was true. “We can even just go straight to my new house, just give me directions.”

“Ugh, alright,” she feigned annoyance and climbed onto the handle bars.

“Hang on,” Lincoln whispered in her ear.

He kicked off and pedaled towards his home. In minutes they stopped in front of a two story house with brown sides and rosebushes out front.

“Did you have a fun time?” Lincoln asked her after she jumped off the bar.

“Yeah, that was pretty fun,” Audrey smirked at him. “Anyway, this is your new home. It’s not too far from shopping and the mess hall is pretty close too.”

“Mm, food is definitely a language I speak fluently, so you have any favorite meals they serve?” he asked.

“Not really,” she frowned. “There’s fresh fruits and vegetables from the orchards and local gardens. Once a month they do a big fancy dinner for everyone. They make an apricot chicken I really like,” she could imagine sitting at the table in the mess hall with the white plate in front of her. Seasoned asparagus stalks always sat next to the chicken that was drizzled with a sweet and tangy apricot sauce.

Her mouth was watering when she realized Lincoln was bemusedly watching her.

“Sorry, I got distracted there for a second,” she laughed and ran her fingers through her ponytail nervously.

“That’s okay, I get the same way thinking about good tasting stuff. Thanks for showing me to my new place,” he climbed off the seat with a grin and handed the bike handles to her. “I’d give you a hug but I barely know you.

“That’s okay. I’m not really a hug-type person anyway,” she looked around the front yard awkwardly. “Um… Well, I guess I’ll see you around sometime.”

“Yup, you better get going to your super important training,” Lincoln readjusted the bag on his shoulder. “See you later, Runner Three.”

Audrey watched him go into his house and smiled. She would absolutely love to see more of Lincoln Hall.

“We’ll just retire the number then!” Dean shouted angrily at his father after training ended.

They sat in the conference room the Council had claimed at the Fairfield Inn as its regular place for Council and town meetings. Mr. Davies was looking at the tiled ceiling patiently waiting for Dean’s rant to be over.

“I’m not replacing Peter,” Dean said quietly leaning back into his chair. “That’s not an option.”

Mr. Davies’ demeanor cracked and he sighed impatiently. He put his elbows on the table in front of him and leaned forward, “Dean, we will never be able to replace Peter. I am not asking you to do that. The matter of the fact is that we need a new Runner.”

Dean shook his head angrily with his jaw clenched. His leg was bouncing quickly and his arms were crossed over his chest. He ran his hand through his hair and rested his elbows on his knees.

He looked back and forth from his father to Audrey, “You can’t do this, Mr. Councilman. Tell him, Audrey. It’s practically a sin to even suggest it.”

Audrey knew what Dean wanted to hear and on an emotional level she felt the same. She didn’t want to fill Peter’s spot yet. He’d only been buried earlier that day, but she knew Roswell needed a new Runner.

She followed Mr. Davies’ example and looked at the ceiling of the conference room pleadingly,
Please save me from this, God. You owe me after what you did to my family.

When the silence in the room continued she looked back at the two people who were staring at her intently and groaned inwardly.

Oh, all right!
She growled in her mind.

“I think we should get a new Runner,” she stared at the wall behind Mr. Davies’ head. “We need a new guy, but I think today isn’t the time to talk about it.”

When Dean didn’t respond she looked at him out of the corner of her eye.

If she knew it wouldn’t make the situation spiral out of control more than it already had she would have laughed at the look he gave her. His mouth was agape in horror and he looked as though he had never been more betrayed. This was a time she really wanted laughing to be the answer.

“Why is she even here?” he hissed at his father.

“She’s Runner Three. Since Peter is gone now, she’s the default number two and she has a say in the goings on of the Runners,” Mr. Davies explained, tiredly rubbing his eyelids gently with his fingertips. “It needs to be done, Dean.”

Dean tapped his feet angrily a few times on the ground before abruptly standing up and declaring, “I can’t do this with you right now. I’m leaving.”

“If you walk out that door you don’t get a say in anything. I’ll let Audrey make the call on everything concerning this,” Mr. Davies said sternly, looking at Dean like he would an angry toddler.

“Fine,” Dean said defiantly and turned to Audrey. “Don’t screw this up.”

Audrey watched Dean stomp furiously out of the conference room doors.

Fantastic.

“Audrey,” Mr. Davies started cautiously. “I think we both know we need a full team of Runners, so let’s just—”

“I think you’re right,” Audrey cut him off. “We do need a full team of Runners. I’m on your side. Today was just a really bad day to do this. Peter was just buried today.”

“I know that,” Mr. Davies frowned. “This wasn’t my idea. Pat insisted that I talk to you both today.”

“Why would he do that?” Audrey asked.

“Your guess is as good as mine. Pat has been very pushy since you got back from Carlsbad,” Mr. Davies absentmindedly clicked the ballpoint pen he was holding. “I don’t know what to do to keep him in line anymore.”

“What does Mrs. Jimenez say?”

Mr. Davies waved his hands nonsensically, “Oh, Sandra is so non-confrontational she just tells us to work things out ourselves.”

“That sucks,” Audrey said quietly. “I’m sure Pat will back off when the Runners get upset with it anyway. He doesn’t like when we’re all upset with him.”

“Well, back to the point. What do you suggest we do to get a new Runner?” Mr. Davies relaxed back into his chair and let out a long breath.

“I think we should open up tryouts for the position specifically to the people from Artesia at first and see what kind of interest we get. It might make them feel more welcome and less like they’re just expected to assimilate,” she suggested.

Mr. Davies nodded, “I think you have a good idea there, Audrey. Let’s go ahead and give the new people a couple days to sign up for recruitment. If no one does, we open it up to everyone.”

“I think that will be fine. I’ll have Marcella and Greg set up something in the Commons,” Audrey said. “I’ll get it going tomorrow.”

“You know, Audrey, I always knew there was something great about you. I think you’ll do well with this,” he smiled and put his things in a briefcase on the table. “If things go well there might be some advancement in your future.”

Audrey felt her heart jump. Advancement would be nice, but she didn’t want to leave the Runners. She didn’t want to give up her runs to Carlsbad either.

“Thanks,” she muttered, unsure of whether or not she should feel happy.

She stood up and quickly grabbed her things she had brought from the Runner’s Field from under the chair she was sitting in.

“By the way, Audrey,” Mr. Davies said standing up. “Dean needs you to talk to him. He was pretty upset at the greeting earlier today. He needs you now, especially with Pete passing away.”

“Okay,” Audrey murmured, pushing at the carpet with her toes. “I’ll go find him now.”

“That would be wise,” Mr. Davies headed towards the conference room doors. “I will see you soon to discuss the tryouts for the Runner.”

“Okay, bye,” she watched the man walk out of the room and sat back down in her chair.

She wished she could talk to her mother about Dean. She tried to imagine what she’d say about the whole thing.

She easily pictured her mother’s face, but she got frustrated when she couldn’t imagine the sound of her mother’s voice. She bent over and rested her elbows on her knees.

“I wish you were here,” she said to the mental image of her mother.

“I’m sorry,” the sound of Dean’s voice in the silent room made her jump, “I thought you left already.”

“I just needed to get away from
him
,” he scowled and sat on the chair next to her. “How did things go after I left?”

“Things went fine and we have a plan. I know you’re mad at your dad because he was the one who pulled the trigger on Pete, but you have to know he didn’t really do anything,” Audrey frowned at him.

“Don’t even try to stick up for him,” Dean shrugged and tapped his toes on the ground. “I know we’re going to need someone new. I just hate how callous he is. He should have waited to talk to us.”

“Why couldn’t you just agree to it if you know? We could have waited after that,” Audrey pursed her lips.

“Because he’s not sorry. He wasn’t when Peter died and he’s not now. It just means one less mouth to feed for the Head Councilman of Roswell,” Dean said bitterly. “Thank you, by the way.”

“For what?” Audrey asked.

Dean grabbed her hand and ran his thumb over her knuckle, “For dealing with him.”

Audrey squeezed his hand, “He does care about you and your feelings, you know.”

“I don’t know anything when it comes to him,” Dean snipped and pulled his hand away. “I’m not mad at you and I’m sorry if I’m acting like it.”

“It’s fine. We need to talk,” Audrey leaned against the back of her chair and crossed her legs.

“Yeah, we do,” Dean stared at her. “What do you think about everything that happened this morning?”

“I don’t know. I’m confused right now and don’t want to ruin our friendship,” she stared at his hands.

“Avoiding me at trainings so we can’t talk to each other isn’t going to help,” Dean scooted his chair closer to hers and laid his arm across her back.

“I just don’t know how I feel,” she felt tingles on her back and leg where his was brushing against hers.

She shifted her legs away from his slowly so he wouldn’t notice. The way she felt when he touched her excited her, but she didn’t like it because she had never thought of him and her having anything more than a friendship.

“Audrey, you’ve always been my best friend. I feel like there can be something more between us than just friendship. Haven’t you ever wondered what it would be like if we were together?”

She had thought about it a couple years before. It was back when she had her mom there to give her the advice she needed.

The last and only time she had thought about it was right after her first track meet in high school. She was so excited because she had placed high and was looking around for Dean to tell him. She had found him with his then-girlfriend. She felt like she was being swallowed up by a pit in her stomach. Her mom was there to reassure her that Dean wasn’t going to abandon her just because he had a girlfriend.

She blinked back tears and looked at Dean. He looked different than he did at that track meet. He looked older. There were dark circles under his eyes and a crease between his eyebrows from scowling as often as he did. She reached up and rubbed her thumb against his brow.

“What would we do if it didn’t work out?” Audrey asked.

Dean shrugged, “At least we would know we gave it a shot.”

“Yeah,” Audrey whispered.

Dean leaned in towards her. His lips parted and she felt his breath on her cheek.

She wondered what it would feel like to kiss him, so she did. His mouth was warm and soft. She felt his hand on the back of her head. It was comforting rather than feeling like he was holding her in place.

She leaned back to break the kiss and looked into his eyes. They were still cold and reserved, “I think I just need time to process everything.”

Dean hung his head and he looked at the ground for a moment.

“Just don’t stop talking to me,” Dean whispered and pulled her into a hug. “You’re my best friend. I don’t want to lose that. Above everything else going on, I can’t lose you too.”

Audrey leaned into his hug and wrapped her arms around his neck. She wanted to help him, but wasn’t sure how.

“I have to go,” she murmured against his shoulder. “I’ll see you later.”

He nodded and she watched his Adam’s apple bob as he swallowed, “Okay. See you tomorrow.

Audrey left quickly and grabbed her bicycle from the front of the hotel. She peddled as fast as she could to her house.

Jennifer and Charlotte were talking with each other at the dining room table, but paused when they heard the front door open and close.

Audrey didn’t want anything to do with their hyper-optimistic conversation they had every evening about what they were going to do when the world was normal again. She glared at them for a split second and stormed straight to her room.

“Hey!” Sadie barked indignantly from her own room. “You’re not even going to say hello?”

“Oh, hi,” Audrey said lamely.

“Rough day, huh?” Sadie asked, patting the edge of her bed the same way her mom used to. “Come talk.”

“No, that’s okay,” Audrey wished Sadie was her mom offering to talk. “I’m just going to head to bed.”

“I promise it will make you feel better,” Sadie held her fingers up like a boy scout and waved her into the room. “Talking usually makes things better.”

Audrey didn’t want to talk, but walked into the small bedroom anyway, “How will this make me feel better?”

“Shut the door,” Sadie looked over Audrey’s shoulder into the hallway suspiciously.

Audrey looked at the girl sitting on the bed with her hands hidden under a large white pillow and contemplated what she should do. She trusted Sadie as much as she could trust a girl she had lived with for half a year, but she was acting skittish and Audrey wasn’t sure what to expect.

She sized the other girl up, sure Sadie may be bigger physically, but she felt it would be easy to win a hand to hand fight against the girl—especially with the new training she was going through.

She slowly closed the door behind her and tensed when Sadie pull her hands out from under the pillow. She revealed two king size 3 Musketeers candy bars.

“Are you kidding me?” Audrey exclaimed happily and relaxed. She rushed to sit on the foot of the bed. “This has to be the most amazing thing I have seen in months.”

Sadie smiled and held out one of the shiny packages, “I may have a bit of a sugar stash hidden somewhere. You can take this one. I don’t need to eat two king sized bars anyway.”

“Thanks,” Audrey quickly removed the wrapper from the end of the bars and bit the end off of it. The feel of the chocolate immediately melting in her mouth made her feel ecstatic.

“So tell me about your day?” Sadie said taking a bite out of her chocolate bar.

“Just Runner stuff. Peter was buried today and Dean is freaking out because his dad wants to get a new guy training,” she swallowed the bite.

“Wow, Council is wasting no time on that. Roswell needs all of its Runners though, right?” Sadie stretched her legs out over the edge of her bed and wiggled her toes. “You guys don’t just go out and fight dregs all the time. You’re like the Council’s junior task force.”