Page 130 of Bound in Ashes

She was no impediment for Ian.

He pushed the woman aside, then grabbed the child.

And again, I moved without thought.

Ian, subhuman piece of garbage that he was, was too distracted to notice me.

I wrenched his hands off the girl, then pushed him back into the fire.

The sear of burning flesh sizzled in my ear. The nauseatingly sweet smell turned my stomach.

He screamed, loud. Almost inhuman.

Familiar now.

I looked at the woman.

“You think he learned his lesson?”

“No. And he never will,” the woman said.

She wrapped her arms around the girl and led her away.

I jammed my knife into Ian’s ear, showing him more mercy than he had probably ever shown anyone. Then doused the fire, the smoke billowing up.

“You might want to make your way out of here,” I said to the woman. “Don’t know what that smoke’s gonna attract.”

“Where will we go?” she said. For the first time since I encountered her, worry marred her features.

I shrugged. “About fifteen miles that way there’s a town. Might not be better than this.”

“It won’t be worse.” She looked at me. “Thank you.”

I turned and left, and even though it was dark, I continued to walk. Suddenly, I was tired.

At sunrise, I finally grabbed a car later that afternoon. Caught a break with a group that had left their stash unlocked.

Something—anticipation, something else—built with every rotation of the tires and every day that passed.

They all brought me closer.

I would see Evan soon.

Tried to ignore the sadness underneath the relief.

I made my choice.

She made hers.

That was all there was to it.

I drove the perimeter of the ranch, smiling as I saw that the fences were repaired.

I’d shown Evan how to work on them, and even though it was always a chore to pull him away from his video games, I could hear him now, listening intently, proud in that boyish way that told me how close he was to being a man.

The house was dark. But that was good.

I didn’t smell anything but forest. Familiar. Welcome.