A Beast Among Gods (The Mac Tire Chronicles) by Garnet Davenport (big screen ebook reader txt) 📗

it. We never wanted to. But now that the guards are gone and the Commander is gone, we don’t have to follow them anymore.”

“Fine,” I said, leaning down to pick him up.

He wasn’t going to lie on the floor. He deserved better. I sat his limp body onto my bed and got in next to him. I couldn’t take the sheet off of him, but I couldn’t leave him either.

“Leave us,” I ordered in a low growl.

They walked out of our room, and I wrapped my arm around Jamie and pulled him in close. I never fell asleep that night, and I never let him go.

➣ Chapter 14

Pay It Forward

One of the boys cautiously came into our room the next day. I hadn’t moved the entire night. Jamie was still securely nestled into my chest. I wasn’t ready to give him up. His fingers had started to stiffen, and I couldn’t hold onto his hand any longer.

“William?” he said.

“What?” I replied, my voice hoarse from the night and nonuse.

“We… we made arrangements for Jamie.”

“Fine.” I growled.

I moved toward Jamie. I lifted the sheet and placed my fingers on his pale cheek, and said, “Thank you for showing me love. I’ll never forget you.”

I covered him back up with the sheet and got up to walk away from him.

“You don’t want to stay?” the boy asked.

“No.”

“What are we supposed to do now?”

“About what?” I growled.

“You’re the Commander. What are we supposed to do?”

“Don’t do anything. Leave from here. Go out into the world and live. Don’t show anyone who you really are,” I said and then walked away.

***

I had been traveling for a few hours when a big truck stopped on the side of the road. The window rolled down, and the guy inside yelled out.

“Where you headed?”

“I don’t know.”

“Well, I’m on my way to Wisconsin. I can take you there. That’s about eight hundred miles.”

Eight hundred miles away sounded really good.

“Sure.”

The guy leaned over and opened the door. I climbed up and sat in the passenger seat. He had country music playing, and the sound from the engine was loud to my sensitive ears. He got a look at me and narrowed his eyes on me.

“I’m not looking for any trouble, but I’ve got to know if you’re on the run from the law,” he said.

“No, my friend was in an accident. He didn’t make it,” I said low.

“Well, I’ll be stopping for a break in about three hours. You can shower at the truck stop and get something to eat.”

“I don’t have any money,” I said.

“That’s all right. It looks like you’ve had one hell of a night, and you’re going to need to clean yourself up and get something in your belly. I don’t mind helping you out. Just so long as you pay it forward.”

“Pay it forward?” I asked, never hearing the phrase before.

“Yeah, it means to do something nice for someone else and then they do something nice for the next person they meet, and it keeps going forward.”

“Oh, I get it. That’s nice. I’ve never had something like that happen to me.”

“It looks like you’ve had a long life for the years you’ve traveled. Sometimes, I feel the same. I’ve got my honey at home. She’s trying to help a friend so she couldn’t be with us, but she wouldn’t hesitate to help,” he said.

That was when I got a good look at him. Auburn hair just past shoulder length, a long auburn beard with a few gray hair growing wild, and by the look of him, he has some height and muscle on him.

“What can I call you, young man?” he asked.

“My name is William,” I respond.

“William, aye? Doesn’t sound like it fits you very well.”

“It doesn’t?” I respond.

“Hmm, how about Striker?”

“Striker?” I asked.

“Yep, I think it fits you. You’re strong, courageous, loving, and the first in and last out. You strike without restraint.”

I looked over at him. Where did he… how did he…? I was so confused.

“Let me introduce myself. My name is Manannan Mac Lir. I know it’s a mouthful. But it’s an old family name. Just call me Manny.”

“Manny?”

“Yep, it’s just easier to say. Plus, I don’t mind it one bit.” He chuckled.

I gave him a forced smile.

We sat and listened to the music. It was sad and lonely, but it made me feel not so alone. He pulled off the interstate and toward a huge gas station that was filled with more big trucks.

“I’m going to stop and get fuel, and then we will park for lunch,” he said, getting out of the truck and punching numbers in on the keypad for fuel.

I took a minute to look around at the inside of his truck. There was a bed and refrigerator and a place where he had a TV hooked up. It was literally a home on wheels. There was some feminine stuff around, like a light pink blanket on the bed and a wolf stuffed animal at the pillows.

Manny got back into the truck and drove us around to back into a space. He looked at me then went into the back by the bed.

“It’s a little cold out there. How about you wear this coat in, and we will see if we can find you something in there to change into. It might be a little big but better than getting stopped with all that blood on your shirt.”

I took the coat and put it on.

“Come on, Striker,” he said, grabbing a bookbag from the upper bunk and getting out of the truck.

Inside, he goes to grab a shirt from the back wall. This one had two wolves, and then he grabbed a pair of sweat pants and another coat that would fit me better.

“There’s a sandwich place over there; we can get something to go after you shower,” he said and went up to the register.

“These and two showers.”

“Do you need extra towels?” the woman asked.

Manny turned back to