A Powerless World , Hunt, Jack [easy novels to read txt] 📗

“I’m kidding.” He laughed. “Gemma it is. Come on, show me this room. Maybe I can build our girl a crib. We could put her in with us.”

“Us?”

He stopped in the doorway to the corridor. “Well, that’s if you want me to stay.”

She sauntered over and placed her arms around his waist. “You know I do.”

She was about to plant a kiss on his lips when ATVs roared outside. Nina broke away from him and went to the window and looked out. “Shit. Go. Hide. It’s my cousins.”

“I’m not going anywhere.” He moved to her side, and she pushed him back.

“Jessie. If they catch you here, they’ll…”

“Do nothing. My mother has spoken with them. They touch me and all hell will break loose. Besides, don’t you think it’s time we tell them?”

She stared back in astonishment. This was a complete 180 for him. Only a month ago he wanted her to think about having an abortion and now he was ready to step up and take responsibility?

“Jessie…”

“They need to know. Eventually, you won’t be able to hide that bump, and then what will you say?”

She nodded. “All right but let me handle this. Don’t go antagonizing them.”

“We’ll be fine.”

“Oh, and put some clothes on.”

“They’re still wet. I put them in the bathroom.”

“Well put something on.”

Jessie collected the clothes from the bathroom and returned to the bedroom and shut the door. A moment later the storm door opened and Seth wandered in. “Hey Nina, you around?”

She hurried down the corridor and around the corner into the kitchen which led to the main door. “Yeah, what do you want?”

“Pops wanted me to bring you a few goodies. I think he’s trying to convince you to come up to the farm.”

“I already told him.”

He waved her off. “I know, I know. But if I didn’t tell you he’d be riding my ass for…” He stopped walking and his eyes drifted to the table to where empty plates and two cups of unfinished coffee were. A smile formed. “Ah… you got company. Anyone we know?”

“Look, Seth. Tell Hank thank you for the supplies but I’ll be fine here.”

“Who’s the lucky fella?”

His eyes roamed the room and he made his way toward the corridor. Nina hurried over and got in front of him.

“Would you mind?”

“Oh, we don’t mind, do we, guys?”

They were leaning up against the kitchen counter.

Derek had picked up one of the cups and took a swig. “Still warm, Seth.”

“Come on, guys, can you please just go?”

“Nina. Now that’s not polite. At least give us a chance to greet…”

The door opened up at the end of the corridor and Jessie wandered out. He had on his damp clothes from the previous day. His feet squelched inside his boots as he made his way down. “What the…? A Riker?” He flashed a look of disgust as Jessie made his way to him, and then wrapped an arm around Nina’s shoulders.

“Oh, you didn’t hear? Nina must have forgotten. Yeah, we’re an item now.”

“Like hell you are!” he said, stepping forward with a look of malice. “Get your hands off her.”

Jessie tutted. “I would dial back that anger a notch, if I was you, Seth, unless of course, you want to break the agreement?” He ambled past him, feeling untouchable. Jessie scooped up his cup of coffee and took a swig. They looked outraged as he sauntered around the kitchen like he owned the place. “In fact, you might be seeing a helluva lot more of me because, well, it looks like I might be joining the family.”

Seth didn’t take his eyes off him for even a second. “What’s he talking about, Nina?”

“Do you want to tell him or should I?”

Nina felt beyond uncomfortable, standing there, their disapproving eyes boring into her. She was beginning to understand Jessie’s reluctance to come forward with the news of her pregnancy. “I’m pregnant… with his child.”

Their jaws dropped and they diverted their gaze to Jessie, who was sitting in a seat, a smile on his face, sipping coffee.

Chapter Eight

Eighteen family homes had been hit on one night in the surrounding communities of Humboldt County. The MO was the same each time. Parents and children were shot and scalped. Some bodies were hung from the rafters. When he got the call, Dan rushed to the city of Trinidad to see it for himself. After the report of an attack in the south, and a mass of vicious attacks throughout Trinity, it seemed only plausible that whoever was doing this would extend their reign of terror to include their county.

Steve Johnson gave him the update on the way as the military truck barreled down the highway. They’d managed to obtain one from Captain Evans. “There are six families dead in Willow Creek, another two in Orick, three in Trinidad, five more in McKinleyville, and two in Benbow. They’re getting closer, sheriff. Evans is right, we need to get people into Eureka and block off all entries.”

He nodded. “And what do you suggest?”

“They either move into the unused homes in Eureka or move on to the FEMA camps.”

“They won’t be pushed out of their homes, Johnson.”

“No, but they will leave when they know they won’t be getting any further supplies from us. We tell them that only those in Eureka will be allocated goods. That’s the incentive. That’s fair.”

“That’s blackmail.”

“Call it what you will, sheriff. We can’t feed them all. A month into this, even with the militia, we don’t have enough manpower to cover this county and even if we did, without transportation for all the officers and communication, we can’t respond fast enough. But if we bring in as many as we can into Eureka, we might stand a chance of keeping the wolves at bay.”

Eureka was the biggest city in Humboldt. Over twenty-six thousand people before the event. In the first few weeks, many left to seek out safety in towns and cities where other families were. After that, about two-thirds of the remaining population in Eureka