Total pages in book: 163
Estimated words: 150878 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 754(@200wpm)___ 604(@250wpm)___ 503(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 150878 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 754(@200wpm)___ 604(@250wpm)___ 503(@300wpm)
Tuck walked straight up to Charlie’s outstretched finger, his chest bending it back so that Charlie dropped it. “The only reason you care about that horse being gone is that you want a free ride,” Tuck said, his voice as steady as his gaze. “Most entitled piece of shit I’ve ever met.”
Oh. My eyes darted to Charlie.
“Excuse me?”
“Things have changed, Charlie. And I know you don’t like it. But there are new rules, and if you don’t want to play by them, then you can fuck off.”
“Tuck!” burst from my mouth. I was willing to let them work this out, but no one needed to get nasty.
“I’ve been wanting to say that for a week,” he said.
I watched as they had a stare-down. So much passed between them in those few tense seconds. The understanding that Charlie’s position had been drastically downgraded was his foremost struggle, that was clear. And apparently, he wasn’t sure what to do when his status alone didn’t guarantee he got his way, and another man called him on his bullshit.
I wasn’t going to step between them. But I was also getting annoyed and ready to go. What Isaac had told us the night before about St. Louis had spooked the hell out of me, and I wanted to get far away from here. I pushed Charlie aside and grabbed my own stuff. “Come on. We’ll find you some shoes, Charlie.”
Charlie’s false bravado deflated, and he stared morosely down at the—frankly—gross shoes. I didn’t blame him for being angry and not wanting to put them on his feet, but it also wasn’t anyone else’s problem. And there was really no choice other than to walk barefoot. Tuck was right. Charlie had been perfectly fine to let Tuck take the reins while he slept in the back of the buggy, not even offering to let Tuck rest for an hour. It was the accumulation of all these small moments over the last week that had given me a clear picture of who Charlie really was.
“Fine,” he muttered, turning away from Tuck. “Let’s just go.”
“Tie those on with this,” Tuck said, tossing him a balled-up pair of socks. “They’re no worse than the slippers Emily wore those first few days. The priority is replenishing our water, then food, then we’ll find you some shoes.”
“Where the hell will we find shoes?” Charlie muttered, but he unballed the socks and started pulling on the shoes. I thought for sure he was going to start crying when he put his foot inside the one with the intact sole, but he managed to hold it together.
* * *
Tuck shot another rabbit for us a couple of hours later, and we built a fire, and again roasted the meat on sharpened sticks. He’d waited until we were on a completely deserted stretch of road, not one disabled car anywhere in sight. At first, we’d looked forward to seeing people to ask if they knew anything, then we’d come to expect the same wide eyes and vacant stares that we were probably wearing as people approached in cars, rolling slowly by. No one knew anything, that was clear. But now we had reason to be wary, and whenever we heard a vehicle approaching, we stepped off the road and hid in the brush along the side. “What would we have done for food right about now if we didn’t have that gun?” I asked as I chewed the tough, weird-tasting meat.
Tuck ripped a piece off the stick with his teeth and met my eyes. He chewed for a minute before answering. “I’d thought about snares. But those take more time. We’d have to stay put for longer. There are other things we can try to find…pine nuts for example. I was hoping that by the time we’d walked this far, we’d have more options, but unfortunately…”
I let out a humorless chuff. Yeah. Unfortunately. Only, that word didn’t seem big enough to encompass what we were dealing with here.
“I saw some mushrooms back there,” Charlie said, nodding in the direction from which we’d come.
Tuck paused as if considering his comment. Finally, he said, “Mushrooms aren’t a great idea. I’m not well-versed on the different kinds. They might feed you, but they also might kill you.”
“You not well-versed on something? Wow, hard to believe,” Charlie said sarcastically, pressing down on his shoe so that water leaked out. Despite the fact that the shoes were still soggy, and he’d had to tie the sole on one, he didn’t seem to have too much trouble walking in them, especially since we were on pavement. I could smell their stench but decided commenting on it wasn’t worth more of Charlie’s sulking.
“Are we just going to keep following this road indefinitely, then?” I asked. While I still found myself randomly reaching for my phone, and I could see Charlie doing the same, Tuck seemed to be having withdrawals from the map. I kept seeing his hands moving toward the pocket of the backpack where he’d kept the one Isaac stole, stop mid-reach, and fall to his sides. Whether Tuck would admit it or not, that map had been a source of comfort. Maybe it’d kept his mind occupied with roads and routes and was the only certainty regarding the future that we had. And if he felt lost now, then I guess I did too.