The Last Woman (All That Remains #1) (25 page)

“What are you doing? Who let
you out?”

“Some ole man who thought I
owed him somethin’ for jus’ turnin’ a key. I took care of him, and now it’s
your turn. I’ve been waitin’ for ya to be alone. Where are your loyal subjects?
Shouldn’t they be bowing before you? Scurryin’ to do your bidding? Where are
your pussy whipped boys now, bitch?” she shouts.

The sun sinks behind her,
blinding me. I know she’ll shoot me before I can pull the gun tucked in my
waistband.

Airen suddenly steps between
us, his gun pointed at her chest. “Drop it, Amanda,” he orders. How many times
is this man going to stare down the barrel of a gun to save me? She laughs as
if it’s the most amusing thing she’s ever seen, this standoff between
survivors. I’m trying to stay calm and think, but I’m certain this isn’t going
to end well.

“I don’t wanna kill ya,
honey,” she drawls at Airen. “I got plans for ya.”

“Drop the fucking gun, or I’ll
blow your brains all over this garden,” Airen warns, his voice deathly calm.

“Ah, ah, ah, Abby won’t like
it if you fuck up her garden, and we all know you have to do what Abby wants,
and Abby wants everythin’!” she rants, her voice rising. “You, Joseph, even
Sara! Abby gets everythin’ that should be mine!” she screams, raising the gun
higher.

Oh God, she’s going to shoot.
I can’t just stand here and let her shoot him. Before either she or Airen can
pull the trigger, a bang echoes through the woods, and Mandy’s eyes bulge
grotesquely. Blood spills down the side of her face as she crumples to the
ground.

Sara steps into our view and
glances at Airen before her gaze settles on me. She looks so lost, staring at
me with large, haunted eyes. “I’m sorry,” she whispers. “I can’t do this
anymore.” She raises the revolver to her head and fires before we can even
begin to react.

Someone is screaming. My hands
clamp over my ears hard enough to hurt, but I can still hear it. I can’t seem
to form a coherent thought. Is it Jayla? Did she witness it?

“Abby! Abby, stop!” Airen shakes
me. “Shh, Abby.” He embraces me, pressing my face into his shirt, and the
screaming ceases. My legs give out, and I sink down to my knees, taking him
with me. I don’t know how long we remain there, kneeling and cradling one
another. I can’t let go. His warm solid body is my only grip on reality. I’m
vaguely aware of Julie covering the bodies with a plastic tarp.

After an eternity, Joseph
crouches beside us and croons softly. “Please, come inside. It’s getting dark.”
His face is streaked with tears, and his eyes are red when I look up at him,
miserably.

“Sara,” I whisper.

“I know, love. There’s nothing
you can do. Come inside, both of you,” he pleads, holding my hand, and taking
Airen’s as we stand.

“Wait,” I caution. My feet are
asleep from kneeling for such a long time.

“I’ve got you,” Airen murmurs
and slips his arm around my waist. The three of us stumble inside like wounded
soldiers returning from yet another battle, and Joseph leads us to the sofa in
the living room.

“Where are the kids?” Airen
asks.

“In the bedroom with Julie.”

“Did they see?”

“No, we just heard the shots.
They don’t know what happened.” I know I should go to them and make sure they’re
okay. I just can’t. I don’t have it in me. All I can see is Sara’s face, and
the sorrow and hopelessness in her eyes no seventeen year old girl should ever
know. She’s gone. This sweet, quiet girl with the shy smile must have been
suffering far worse than we ever suspected. We failed her.

Airen must be blaming himself
as well. He looks at Joseph. “I couldn’t stop her. There wasn’t time.”

“It’s not your fault, buddy.
Don’t do that to yourself,” Joseph replies in a soft voice.

We sit in silence, Joseph on
one side of me, and Airen on the other, my rocks.

“Why did she do it? Do you
think it was guilt over shooting Mandy?” Airen asks.

“I think it was everything.” I
sniff. “I think it was cumulative, all the terrible things that have happened
since the plague just overwhelmed her. She was just a kid.”

Joseph gazes at us in
confusion, and I realize he’s not really aware of what happened. He only heard
the shots, and witnessed the aftermath.

“Mandy didn’t kill Sara. Sara
shot herself after she killed Mandy,” Airen tells him.

Joseph pales and rests his
head in his hands. “That poor girl.” I rub his back, but I don’t speak. There
isn’t anything I can say to make this better. We remain there together, rarely
talking, until late. Julie has fed the kids and sent them to bed.

“You should all go to bed
too,” she advises. “You’re in shock, and tomorrow is going to be a hard day.”

“I’ll never sleep,” I protest.
She brings us each a bottle of water and a small blue pill.

“It’s Valium. Take it.
Doctor’s orders.”

We acquiesce. I glance back at
Joseph anxiously when Airen and I start toward the bedroom, and Julie catches
the concern on my face. “I’ll stay with him,” she promises.

“Thank you. Are you okay,
Julie?”

“Yes, I didn’t know Sara as
well as you, dear, but I was fond of her.” She hugs me, and I’m fighting back
tears again. “Everything will be okay, but it will take some time.”

I hug Joseph good night and
follow Airen to our room. Though I don’t have blood on me, I still feel dirty. “Shower?”
I suggest, and he nods. The water is room temperature, but it feels lovely
after the heat of the day. Shit, the heat. The bodies. I quickly attempt to
squash that thought. I just can’t handle it at the moment. Airen washes my hair,
and I wash his chest and back. We go slowly. It’s not sexual, only comforting.
After toweling off, we crawl into bed naked, and I pull the sheet over us. It’s
been one of the longest, most devastating days I can recall.

I lie with my head nestled in
the crook of his shoulder. He kisses my head and keeps his face buried in my
hair as he caresses my belly. I can feel the Valium starting to affect me,
numbing and separating me from the pain. We lie there in silence, skin to skin,
finding solace in one another as we drift off.

The sun is barely up when my
eyes snap open. I was dreaming...something, but it’s gone. Probably a good
thing since I doubt it was pleasant. I know I’ll never fall back to sleep, but
I don’t want to get up yet. The events of the night before replay in my mind,
and I only want to be close to the man I love. He’s warm, and he smells good. I
cuddle closer to him and try not to think. We have to bury them. Sara, anyway,
we can toss Mandy to the side of the road. It’s better than the bitch deserves.

Airen runs his fingers lightly
through my hair, and my eyes close in response. “Are you okay, sweetheart?” he
murmurs.

“Better than last night.”

“Me too. It feels like it was
a nightmare, like it didn’t really happen.”

“We have to tell the kids.”

“I know.”

“We have to bury her.”

“We will, don’t worry.”

Julie has biscuits baking in
the oven, and is placing a bowl of gravy on the table when we join her in the
kitchen.

“Comfort food,” she explains with
a sad smile.

“Thank you. How is Joseph?”
Airen asks.

“He’s doing better this
morning. He’s talking to Walker right now.”

“Carson and Jayla?” I ask.

“Still asleep.”

“Let them sleep,” Airen
advises. “It’s going to be a long day.”

We can hear Walker crying and
Joseph speaking softly, trying to soothe him. God, how do you tell a six year
old something like that? Sadly, it’s far from the first death he’s had to deal
with, and my heart breaks for him. Carson is going to be so upset, and Jayla
will be devastated.

“I’ll be back.” Airen leaves
abruptly, the front door slamming behind him.

Julie grasps my shoulder as I
start after him. “Let him go, dear.” We hear the truck start and the gravel
crunch when he pulls out of the driveway. He’s out of sight by the time I make
it outside.

“He took Mandy’s body,” I
announce. When he returns half an hour later he goes straight to the shower.
He’s got a look on his face that clearly states, “Don’t fuck with me”.

“Are you all right?” I ask.

He snatches a towel and dries
his hair. “Fine,” he replies, stiffly. I recognize this reaction. Sometimes
it’s easier to be angry.

“You can be as pissed as you
need to be, Airen, but not while we tell the kids. They’re awake.” He sighs so
hard I can feel his heartbreak. He struggles to bring his emotions under
control before finally nodding. “What did you do with her body?”

“I disposed of it.”

“Where?”

“What fucking difference does
it make, Abby?” he snaps.

I bite my lip. “You’re right. It
doesn’t matter. I’m sorry.”

I’m pulled hard into his
embrace, and I hold onto him for dear life. “Me too, darlin’.”

“Joseph told Walker that Mandy
and Sara shot each other. He couldn’t tell him Sara committed suicide.”

“Good, I think we should tell
Carson and Jayla the same story. We don’t want them to think badly of her, or
worse, follow her example.” He shudders and releases me from his embrace. “Are
you ready?”

“No, but let’s go.”

“What the hell is going on?”
Carson demands as we walk in the room.

“Calm down. We have to talk to
you both,” I reply.

“Where is Sara? Did Mandy
shoot her?” Carson continues.

“Yes,” Airen answers, bluntly.

“No!” Jayla cries, staring at
me in terror.

“She’s gone, honey. I’m so
sorry.” I can’t keep the tears from running down my face. I hold Jayla tight while
she sobs for her friend. A devastating range of emotions cross Carson’s face.
Shock, anger, fear, and sorrow surge through him, and he storms out of the
room.

“Carson!”

Airen grabs my arm. “I’ll go
talk to him.”

I comfort Jayla the best I can,
and we talk for an hour or so before I leave her and Julie in the kitchen to
search for Carson. He’s sitting on the porch with Joseph on one side of him and
Airen on the other. Walker plays in the sandbox just outside. Someone has moved
Sara’s body out of sight and washed away the blood.

“Is everything okay?” I ask
tentatively. Airen nods at me.

“We have to have a funeral,”
Carson insists.

“We will,” Joseph replies.

“We’ll bury her by our picnic
spot,” Airen assures him.

He nods. “How is Jayla?”

“Sad, but she’ll be okay.”

“I’m going to talk to her,” he
says, heading indoors.

After he’s out of earshot,
Airen explains there is already a grave prepared near our picnic area. “I thought
we’d need a place to bury Mandy when I dug it, but it’s pretty there. We can’t
wait long,” he warns, staring me in the eye.

“This afternoon?” I suggest,
and they agree.

“Airen and I will get her
there. You just bring the kids,” Joseph says.

“I don’t know what I’d do
without you guys.” I kiss them both on the cheek and go to fetch a blanket to
wrap Sara in.

“Meet us in an hour,” Airen
says, as I hand him the soft quilt, and hug him before they take her away. I
don’t think I could do it.

Julie and I lead Jayla,
Carson, and Walker down the trail to the picnic area that will now be a grave
site. Joseph sits on one of the logs, lost in thought while Airen leans against
a tree, arms crossed.

“How are we going to do this?
I don’t know what to say,” Airen whispers, fear shining in his dark eyes.

“We can all say something nice
about her. Don’t worry.” I catch his rough hand in mine and squeeze.

The kids settle on the log
with Joseph, purposely avoiding the grave on the edge of the clearing. My
morbid curiosity gets the upper hand, however, and I peek over the edge of the
hole. She’s shrouded in the quilt, and they have covered her in layers of wild
flowers. I’ve tried not to cry. I don’t want the kids to see, but the sight of
the flowers sends tears down my face again.

“It’s time to say goodbye to
Sara,” I announce quietly. All eyes are suddenly on me. “She was a sweet, kind
child, and I’ll always remember her smile.” I gaze into the grave. “Goodbye,
honey, we’ll miss you.” I glance at Jayla, who is wiping her eyes. “Do you want
to say something?”

She nods and joins me. “Sara
was my best friend. We were going to travel someday and see the ocean and
mountains,” she sobs. “I’m sorry, Sara. I love you, and I’ll miss you so much.”

I hug her, and she calms down
as Walker speaks up.

“Sara always plays cars with
me and reads stories with funny voices. She’s nice to me,” he says with a sunny
smile.

Carson looks uncomfortable as
he begins. “Goodbye Sara. I don’t know why this had to happen to you when you
were always nice to everyone.” His voice is barely audible.