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“We met a long time ago,” Eddie cuts in. “Thanks for the rescue. This is Trisha, she’s deaf so please don’t mind my hands as I have to start explaining all of this to her.”
“That’s not all he does with her,” Dylan mumbles under his breath. I quickly move my hand from his shoulder to yank on his earlobe and smother my smile when I feel Max’s laugh shaking his tall frame.
“We have a lot to talk about, but we can’t stay here,” my uncle says, before turning and letting out a whistle.
With that, his two companions, weighed down in heavy snow gear and backpacks step out from their hiding places among the trees. Within moments, I get nods from a woman whose build is similar to mine and a Hispanic man who’s roughly her height.
“Fuck,” the man grunts. “Clean up on Aisle Head Shot.”
“What the hell is wrong you?” the woman growls as she slaps the back of his head, getting a smile and a wink from him in response. “He’s their father!”
“Was,” he mumbles, swinging his eyes back to study Dylan and me. “Was their father. And they don’t look too tore up about it.”
“Javier,” my uncle says in a stern voice before giving him a look that would have sent me running.
Without them, I doubt the three of us could have borne Eddie’s weight on the way back. Besides the ribs he thinks are broken, his knee now seems to be completely blown out as well.
Javier may not be much with words, but he is quick to sling his rifle across his back, and without another smart-ass comment, he moves straight for Eddie.
With a subtle nod shared between them, my de facto uncle shifts his left arm from across Trisha’s shoulders to this soldier. The sound of Eddie sucking air through his mouth, highlights the pain he’s in, but when Trisha signals for them to follow her, he straightens his spine and keeps step with the man supporting his weight.
“Dylan,” I say, redirecting him from staring at our dad’s body again. “Go with them, be Trisha’s ears. Don’t let anyone say anything about Dad yet—distract our family with news of Uncle Max. This is going to devastate Grandma. We can all sit down and talk to her when we get back.”
“Yeah. Of course,” my brother says, giving Max another hug before moving to catch up with the other three.
“What should do we do with him?” I ask my uncle when they’re out of earshot.
“Did I hear things right?” he asks me in return. “Jace was collaborating with Tyton?”
“I think so. He’d been staying in town lately. Butcollaborating? Dad told Dylan and I that Tyton was helping to restore order and services to towns, like rebuilding things.”
“Bullshit,” the woman standing beside us growls and for a moment I think she would have kicked my dad’s body if not for me standing there, in addition to her words to Javier a few minutes ago.
“Julia, my niece, this is Banks our, well navigator, sniper, voice of reason…”
“The list is endless. Nice to meet you,” she says, cutting Max off. “Tyton and his men have been raping and murdering their way across the country.”
With my eyes suddenly wide open, I look between them, then down to my dad’s corpse. “Mom must have suspected as much. Grampa’s friend encountered a group that was terrorizing people, but Dad came back from town telling us that Tyton was different. She should have told me.”
“Old habits, Jelly Bean,” Uncle Max murmurs. “We got to get a move on, before my dad comes looking for us or we get caught out here by Tyton’s goons.”
“What about his body?” Banks asks the question I was still trying to form.
“We need to bring him back,” I say, holding my hand up when they both look slightly annoyed. “For Grandma Elsbeth, it wouldn’t be right to leave him to the wildlife.”
My uncle lets out a long sigh, indicating his agreement before removing his backpack and pulling out a sleeping bag. “I’ll drag him back in this. Julia can lead the way.”
“Let’s leave him in Grandma Elsbeth’s barn,” I tell him. “The animals were all moved to ours for the winter and we’ll have to figure out what to do with him after we tell her.”
“How many people are at your house?” Banks asks me after we start down the trail, she’s watching our backs as I lead the way; Uncle Max between us as he drags Dad behind him.
“Twelve. Um, eleven, now. Grampa and Lee have patched things up, so we see him about once a week. He lives further up the mountain,” I add the last bit of information since I doubt Banks has heard about him.
“Catch me up on who’s there, Julia,” Max huffs out, as he tries to move dad’s body over some rocky terrain.
“Eddie, and he has an infant daughter, Sara. Grandpa and Grandma—oh, Banks, by Grandma I’m talking about my dad’s mom, Uncle Max’s mom passed away a while ago.” I look at her, knowing that the group can get confusing, then I realize that Max is missing some big news. “Aiden is Mom’s boyfriend, then his niece, Rachel is here, also.”
“Only took the end of the world for your mom to start dating again, huh?” Max huffs out and I laugh.
