Without Law 18 by Eric Vall (most difficult books to read .txt) 📗

“If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were trying to get lucky.”

“He already did,” Anna snickered, and Paige giggled along with her.

Tara glared at the pair of them, then she stuck her tongue out and gave them a little mocking face.

“You’re just jealous you don’t have Tav’s baby growing inside you right now,” the platinum-blonde said.

“Yup, that’s us,” Anna teased. “Super jealous of all that throwing up you’re doing.”

“Oh, shut up,” Tara laughed and shoved the redhead playfully.

“Speaking of our baby,” I said, and I couldn’t help the huge smile that spread across my face as I said those words. “Minji gave me something for you.”

“She did?” Tara asked, and her eyebrows pinched together in confusion.

“Here,” I said, and I pulled the bag out of the front seat and tossed it to her.

Tara caught the candy and turned it in her hands so she could see what it was.

“Crystalized ginger?” she asked. “What the hell?”

“You’ve never had that stuff?” Paige asked. “Oh, it’s so good.”

“I think Minji was hoping it would help with your morning sickness,” I explained.

“Oh, right.” Tara nodded and shrugged. “Well, it is ginger. It’s got to do something, right?”

“Let’s hope so,” Anna groaned.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Tara said with a glare. “Is my getting sick irritating you?”

“I mean, kind of,” Anna chuckled. “But I’m just worried about you being out in the field in your state.”

“She does have a point,” Paige said. “What are you going to do if you need to throw up while we’re in a fight?”

“Then I’ll throw up and keep shooting.” Tara shrugged nonchalantly. “Honestly, it’s like you guys have no faith in me.”

“Don’t worry, Tar,” Bailey said with a smile. “If you need a puke break, I got your back.”

“Thank you, Bails,” Tara said sweetly, and she glared at Anna and Paige. “That’s why she’s my favorite.”

Anna chuckled and rolled her eyes, then we all hopped in the jeep to get scouting. It was already late afternoon, and I didn’t want to waste any more time. It was fall already, and the days were growing shorter all the time, so I wanted to get the most out of the daylight we had left.

Once the girls piled into the jeep, then I turned the vehicle over, waved to the civilians near the fire, and pulled us around to the main road.

I rolled down the window and breathed in the crisp fall air as we drove. The sky was bright blue with the midday sun shining ahead of us, and the roads were as clear as they could be given the circumstances. There was some trash and debris, but not a single other vehicle in sight. Except the random ones on the side of the road, but even those were few and far between.

I’d almost forgotten what it was like to drive with other vehicles around. I’d gotten so used to being the only car on the road that if society ever got back to the way it was, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to deal with rush hour traffic again. I’d rather walk at that point.

We’d been driving for about half an hour when Paige piped up from the back seat.

“There’s a gas station up here, and just after that I think might be a good spot to try and ambush,” the brunette said. “It looks like there’s plenty of forest on the side to give us cover.”

“Alright,” I said. “Let’s check it out.”

Sure enough, just a few minutes later a small gas station came into view on the left hand side of the road. The place was dingy and covered with a good layer of dust from being out of business so long. It clearly hadn’t been pristine to begin with, but it was even worse off now. The open/closed sign in the window was so faded it was nearly unreadable, and the writing on the outside of the shop was the same way. There was some trash on the ground around it, and some abandoned cars parked outside, but overall it looked like pretty much everywhere else in the apocalypse.

I slowed down and pulled into the parking lot near one of the pumps, then I shut the jeep off, hopped out, and stretched.

While the rest of the girls got out, I glanced around the area to see if there were any signs of people. I didn’t expect there to be considering everything that had gone on in the area, but there were a few cans set up at the edge of the building where the rain runoff would land.

My eyes narrowed in on the cans, and I slowly placed my hand on my plasma gun.

“The place is right up the road,” Paige started, but I held up my fist, and she stopped speaking at once.

“What is it?” Anna asked, and suddenly she was right beside me with her plasma weapon in her hands.

“I’m not sure,” I said. “But I think we might have company.”

I kept my eye on the building, and just when I was about to give up the idea that there was anybody inside, I saw the top of someone’s head as they peered outside from behind the counter.

We definitely had company.

Chapter 2

“Shit,” I breathed.

The girls and I immediately ducked behind the jeep just as the head I saw dipped back behind the counter.

“Is there somebody in there?” Paige panted as we squatted down to avoid being seen.

“There’s at least one person,” Anna said.

“I saw them behind the counter.” I nodded.

“Me, too,” the redhead agreed.

“What’s our plan?” Tara asked.

“We don’t know if they’re armed or not,” Bailey said.

“That’s true,” I agreed. “But I don’t want to risk them being armed and trying to take us out for our transportation.