Thrive, p.1
Thrive, page 1
part #2 of Defy the Ravaged Series
Thrive
Defy the Ravaged Book Two
E.M. Raegan
THRIVE
The days are blurring together. I can’t seem to keep my eyes open at night. Terror follows us everywhere we go. Nowhere is safe. It’s spreading. Thriving. We can’t outrun it. All we can do is bunker down and pray it passes us by. But that’s wishful thinking. The ravaged will find us and there’s not a thing we can do to stop them. They are everywhere.
I haven’t seen him. I haven’t spoken to him. But I know he’s there. I know he’ll be there if I need him.
It’s not long before I do.
My name is Willow.
His name is Jason.
I hate him—or I used to. Now I just need him. Want him. Miss him.
The ravaged are coming. They always are, and he’s always there to stand between them and me.
But the Ravaged aren’t the only dangers lurking behind every corner. There’s something more sinister stalking me. And when it finds me, I’m on my own.
Contents
Untitled
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Untitled
Thank You
Other Books by E.M. Raegan
Books by Erin Raegan
About the Author
Acknowledgments
Thrive. Copyright © 2019 by E. M. Raegan. All Rights Reserved.
Cover Designed by Cortney E Designs
Edited by Joy Editing
All characters, alien or human, events―on planet Earth or otherwise―in this book are a product of the author's imagination and hours of daydreaming. Any resemblance to actual people, or otherworldly beings, living or dead, or actual events, are entirely coincidental.
No part of this book may be reproduced, or transmitted, or distributed, in any form, by any means, without explicit written permission from the author with the exception of brief quotations embodied in reviews or articles. This book is licensed for your enjoyment only. Thank you a thousand times, and all the hugs, for purchasing.
For my sister, D, who’s love for zombies and romance may out-rival mine. And who listened to this crazy dream I had two years ago and told me to write its story.
Chapter One
I twirled a blade of grass between my fingers as we sat on the side of the highway. Cars lined the road as far as the eye could see. People had abandoned their cars and were walking. But not us. Those of us that were unarmed were sitting down while the club members surrounded us, their backs straight, their eyes shifting through the growing crowd.
We were a few hundred feet back from the road and up a hill, but I was still nervous. If someone got bitten here, we would be toast. If just one person were infected in a group this large, it would be worse than the truck stop last night.
But we didn’t know what else to do. We didn’t know where to go. Paulie had instructed us to leave our cars when a few desperate people started jamming their cars between the lanes, shoving through. We didn’t want to get caught inside the cars if we had to run.
I didn’t understand why we were waiting at all. We should have left on foot a long time ago. We’d been sitting here for hours now. After the traffic came to a dead stop and we realized we weren’t getting any closer to the safe zone, Paulie had told Ren and a few others to take a few bikes and ride ahead to see what was going on–but how far ahead? How far away was the safe zone? They could be gone for hours more.
Paulie and Jay tried to keep our large group together, but it was hard–so many people had an opinion about what we should do. Stay or go? And the hundreds of people rushing down the road on foot had our nerves on edge. In my opinion, it wasn’t smart to wait here.
I looked over at Jay. He was arguing with Paulie and pointing to the woods at our backs, but the older man just shook his head.
Blue giggled, and I looked over at him and Jan. Jan had a one-year-old, Marcy, and she and Blue had been playing while we waited. I stretched my arms, groaning. It was good that Blue had relaxed enough to play with the other baby and her mother–my arms had been cramping from holding him for so long.
Wiley, her husband—another member of The Matron’s Watchmen–stood where they were playing on the ground and monitored the traffic down the hill from us. He was tense, and I knew that if anything happened, he would have his wife and the babies up and ready to run in a heartbeat. But I still sat close, watching.
Blue wasn’t my baby, but I felt responsible for him ever since we ran into Fin. He had been traveling with the baby since they were in Maryland. But I had taken over two nights ago.
I looked down the hill to the slate grey car parked in the second lane. I couldn’t see through the darkened windows, but I could have sworn I felt his eyes on me from all the way up the hill. I stifled a tremor. Fin had been banned from coming near Blue and me, actually, he had been banned from coming anywhere near the club and our group. But Jay’s fists must not have been convincing enough, because he had been following us since last night.
There was something about him that drove knives into my gut. Cornering me in a bathroom and groping me had definitely proved to me that my instincts about him were right. I didn’t want him anywhere near me, and especially not Blue. The baby cried uncontrollably when he was around Fin, and it killed me not to know what kind of man he had to be to get a two-year-old to fear him so much–the things he must have done to the baby to get that kind of reaction.
I swallowed past the thickness in my throat and looked away, back to Jay. He hadn’t gone far from me since we abandoned the cars, but he hadn’t looked at me either. He hadn’t spoken to me. Not since this morning. Not since he touched me. Kissed me.
Jay stiffened and shook his head angrily at his uncle. Paulie sliced his hand through the air. Jay turned and stormed off.
I watched Paulie as he scrubbed his face roughly. Things had seemed to deteriorate between them as well since our kiss. Paulie catching us seemed to have made things worse between them. Guilt ate at me but I didn’t understand why. Jay had kissed me.
“It’s rude to stare, Willoweed.”
I stiffened and looked over my shoulder at Dahlia. She was laying down in the grass, her gypsy skirt folded up over her thighs, showing off her knobby knees, and her hands were spread out above her head. I couldn’t see her eyes beneath the huge yellow sunglasses on her face, but I felt her stare.
“Go back to your sunbathing.” I rolled my eyes and looked down at the grass braid I’d been working on for the past hour. Dahlia huffed. Only Dahlia would try to grab a tan when we could get attacked by zombies at any moment–when we could get blown to hell by a nuclear blast at any moment.
I blew out a breath and looked around for Billy. For the last few hours, he had been helping the club members go through the supplies and pack them in bags that could be carried or strapped to a motorcycle.
I didn’t know what the plan was, but it was starting to make my skin itch. I felt too vulnerable, sitting out in the open. The sun was going to go down soon and being out at night scared me even more.
How long were we going to just sit here? Did a ravaged biter have to attack us for the group to decide to move?
A tap on my shoulder startled me, and I turned. Lacy wrapped her arms around my shoulders and looked down at the braid in my lap. Lacy was Goon’s eight-year-old daughter. She didn’t have a mother–not since she was born–so she had been bouncing around the group all afternoon as her dad watched the group and made plans with the others.
Sitting out here had at least done one good thing. With nothing else to do, I had learned a few of the group’s names–at least those that were willing to tell me. I still wasn’t exactly welcomed with open arms, but the animosity I had been used to over the last three years was noticeably absent today.
I grinned at the little girl and guided her around to sit in my lap. “Want to try?”
She nodded and smiled shyly. Olly, Jay’s dog, sniffed her fingers from beside us as I showed her how to make the grass braid, and she quickly took over. Her auburn curls were a knotted mess, so while she was braiding the grass, I combed out her hair with my fingers and braided it in a long plait down her back.
That’s where her father and Jay found us. “Lace, baby, watcha got?”
Lacy lifted her long grass braid and grinned at her dad. Goon grinned back and crouched in front of her. He was a big man, tall and broad, but fit. His dark hair was up and tied at the back of his neck. Sunglasses covered his eyes, but I felt them examine me. “Thanks for watchin’ her.”
“No problem,” I said and quickly tied the end of her hair. She spun and handed me the braid. “Wow.” I smiled wide and wrapped it around the top of her head, tying it into a crown. “Beautiful.”
She hugged me and jumped into her dad’s arms. “Bye, Willow.”
“Bye, sweetie.” I waved as she did over her dad’s shoulder.
When they were gone, I bit my lip and looked up at the man staring at me. Jay didn’t look away, and I wondered why he was seeking me out now. “What?”
He had a strange look on his face. He shook his head and crouched down in front of me. “We’re leaving soon.”
“Ren’s back?” I looked around. I hadn’t seen him come back.
Jay shook his head again and squinted up at the sun. “No, he should’ve by now, and he’s not answering the sat phone.”
“It’s still working?” Cell phones weren’t working–at least not on this side of the safe zone.
“For now,” Jay sighed and looked back down at me.
“You’re worried about him.” I clenched my fingers into fists so I wouldn’t reach out to him.
“Yeah,” he said gruffly. “It’s gonna be dark soon. We gotta move. Can’t wait for him.”
I nodded. “Does he know where to find us?”
“Yeah, we’re gonna start walkin’ that way.”
“Why?” I didn’t want to be walking on the road at night–not around people. I didn’t want to be out at night at all. But where else could we go?
“Paulie wants to see if they’re lettin’ people in on foot.”
The safe zone was supposedly a few miles up the road. There was some kind of military barricade, but the traffic hadn’t moved for hours.
“You don’t agree with him?” I asked hesitantly. I had been watching them argue, and Jay seemed on edge.
Jay shook his head again but didn’t say anything else.
I looked around uncomfortably. He was just watching me. It felt weird to have his attention when he had spent all day avoiding me. Jay was a quiet guy, but I saw him talk and joke with the club. He was not that way with me. Not before last night.
He spread his hands out on his thick thighs, drawing my attention. “I want you on my bike.”
“I have Blue,” I murmured to his boots, ignoring the small thrill I felt at the thought of climbing back on his bike. Holding onto him.
“We’ll be going slow. He’ll be okay between us.”
I looked up at his face. Was that smart? “I don’t know.” What was the right call here? I wasn’t Blue’s mother. But he didn’t have a mother, and I hated to think about what might have happened to her. Or his father. Fin said he found Blue all alone in a house, crying. But he could have been lying. Maybe Blue’s parents were looking for him. Would his mother put him on a motorcycle? I didn’t know–I was so far from mother material. But it probably would be safer than having him in my arms as we walked. Anything could come upon us in the dark.
“Dahlia needs to ride with someone. She can’t walk far.”
Dahlia said something vile from behind me, and I glared at her. She rolled onto her belly, ignoring me. Jay chuckled.
“She’s riding with Monty.”
Dahlia sat up at that. She lifted her sunglasses to her silver hair and grinned at Jay.
“What about Olly?” I sifted my fingers through the dog at my side’s hair, and he licked my elbow.
“He’ll follow,” was all Jay said. The dog groaned and rolled onto his back, baring his belly. I dutifully scratched him.
“And the other dogs?”
The club had three other dogs besides Olly. They had been traveling in the back of a truck, but if we couldn’t take anything but a motorcycle, they would have to walk with the rest of our group. There just weren’t enough bikes for everyone. Most of the members had a bike, and their wives or kids could travel with them. But there were also brothers, fathers, mothers, sisters, and kids. Some members had more than one person to look after. A lot of us would be walking.
“They’ll follow the group. Kids and wives will be on a bike.”
I looked around. Dahlia was the oldest of our group, but there were also a few older people that could use a ride more than me—a younger, more able-bodied person.
“Low,” Jay called to me softly. I looked back at him. His eyes were hard. His mouth a thin unmovable line. “You’re riding with me.”
I huffed as he stood and walked off. Billy took his place. He plopped down to the ground beside me and groaned.
“You okay?” I asked.
He groaned again and stretched. “Yeah, we’re leaving soon.”
“That’s what Jay said.”
Billy looked up at me and then to Jay’s retreating back. “You’re with him.”
“He said that too,” I grumbled.
Billy shook his head. “Don’t argue Will. I’d rather you ride than walk.”
I looked down and started pulling more grass.
“Hey.” Billy slung his arm over my shoulders. “You okay?”
“I don’t know,” I said. I looked back at Jay. He was talking to a couple of other members strapping packs to their bikes. A few travelers got too close to the parked bikes, and the guys stiffened, glaring at them until they went past.
“You want me to tell him to back off?” Billy asked, gruffly. I dropped my head onto his shoulder. He would do it. He would confront Jay if I asked him to. He had been that way since I met him. I was his unofficial sister. The moment Dahlia claimed me, so did her grandson. I had claimed them right back.
“No.” I shook my head. A showdown between the two of them was the last thing we needed right now. I didn’t know who would come out in front after that fight. Billy was a big guy and an amateur wrestler that had spent some time in jail–a consequence of saving a woman from her abusive husband–but Jay was a Marine and carried himself in a way that screamed don’t fuck with me. Not to mention there were almost twenty of his club brothers here that would beat Billy’s ass for looking at him wrong.
And I–I didn’t want Billy to warn Jay away.
“Just say the word,” Billy growled ominously.
“Leave the boy alone, son,” Dahlia called from behind us. “He just wants himself a little Willoweed.”
“Grams,” Billy warned. I groaned and sat up, glaring at her again.
“No shame in wantin’, sweets. I want myself some bad boy, too.” Dahlia grinned and winked at Monty as he passed by us. The older man chuckled and kept walking. Dahlia was almost twice his age, at eighty-two, but that didn’t stop her. “Nothin’ wrong with a little stress relief in times like these.”
Billy flushed and glared at her. He stood and helped her to her feet. “I don’t need to hear about that shit.”
Dahlia huffed a laugh and wobbled, quickly resting against her cane. Billy looked down at her legs, worriedly. Dahlia was a force to be reckoned with, but that made it easy to forget her age. It couldn’t be good for her to travel this much. She needed more rest, but it just wasn’t possible right now.
A whistle rent the air, and we turned to Paulie. He waved to our group. “We’re movin’ out!”
As one, the group moved down the hill to the road below. Wiley handed me Blue, and I hefted him up onto my hip. Blue grabbed onto my hair as I carefully climbed down the hill, Olly at my side. Billy helped Dahlia, and Jay met me halfway, grabbing my elbow and guiding me down the steep hill.
“What about the others?” A woman–Elena I believed her name was–asked from my side. I thought her brother might be scouting with Ren.
Paulie clenched his jaw. “We can’t wait for them. It’ll be dark soon, and we need to get as close to the safe zone as possible.”
A frenzied murmur went through the group.
Paulie held his hands up. “I’m sure they’re fine, but we’re gonna head that way. If they’re on their way back, they’ll see us. If not, we’ll find out what’s holding them up.” Paulie looked at each of us. “We’re gonna pair up on the bikes. Kids first. The rest will walk.” Another anxious murmur. “You’ll be assigned a member. You stay by them on the road. We’re going slow. No one wanders off.” I looked around. We were a big group–at least fifteen people would be walking. The anxious whispers grew louder, and Paulie whistled again. “This is what’s happening. We need to get goin’.”
Several people rushed to the bikes, but kids were loaded on first and then women behind them, holding the smaller children like I would be doing with Blue. Billy helped Dahlia on behind Monty, and the whole time she grinned wickedly, making a big show of draping herself across his back. Monty’s shoulder shook as he laughed quietly, but Billy’s face pinched. It didn’t stop her from wrapping herself around Monty as much as possible.
