Finding Home - A Post Apocalyptic Novel (The Ravaged Land Series Book 2) Read Free Page A

Either I was being paranoid again, or I was being smart. I wasn’t even sure I could even tell the difference any more.
    “Sorry,” I said as I slipped the gun back into my waistband.
    “Umm, that’s OK… I think. I just didn’t want to wake you up,” he said as he lowered himself down onto the sofa. He was careful not to take his eyes off of me. It was as if he didn’t trust me. The thought almost made me want to laugh.
    “No problem. I’m just, uhhh… jumpy.”
    “I see that,” Penn said with a small grin. He looked as if he was waiting for me to say more. Waiting for me to explain my paranoia further. Maybe tell my story. But that wasn’t going to happen. No matter how lonely I was. He could talk all he wanted, but everything about me and my life would remain a mystery to him. Wasn’t he living in the same world I was? Where people couldn’t be trusted? Where they could take everything from you right before your eyes and there wasn’t anything you could do about it.
    I looked him over again… closer. Now that he was up and about, he looked a little different. Still like he was the walking dead, but a little more animated. He had deep round circles surrounding his piercing blue eyes, but they had a little more life in them. Maybe from the food, or the heat, or maybe just the water but he was coming back to life right before my eyes.
    I didn’t like how he looked at me. His eyes seemed to have the ability to look into mine and search through my brain, hunting and pecking around for information. I blinked hoping that would break any connection he was trying to make with my mind.
    His hair was medium length and shaggy as if he hadn’t cut it in a while. It looked as though the last time it had been trimmed it had been with a dull scissors. Not that I would say anything about it. My hair wasn’t any better, except I had been lucky enough to have used a sharper scissors.
    He flipped it over to one side as if he knew I was looking at it and he was getting self-conscious. Perhaps in his past he had been someone who had cared about their looks. If he wouldn’t have been withering away to nothing, practically a skeleton sitting on my sofa, he probably would have been very attractive. But then again, maybe I just thought that because I hadn’t seen another human being in so long. Maybe I forgot what people looked like.
    Penn grinned at me suspiciously. It seemed as if he knew I was checking him out, “What?” he said raising an eyebrow.
    I folded my hands, placed them in my lap and straightened my spine pretending not to know what he was asking about. I shrugged my shoulders. His eyes widened with curiosity, but quickly shifted to a look of concern. I looked into his eyes hoping I could search his like he seemed to with mine, but there wasn’t anything there. No flashing neon light warning me he was dangerous.
    He wrapped himself in a blanket trying to warm his body, but he still shivered. The barely eaten toaster pastry was still on the floor where he had been lying. I picked it up and tossed it onto the coffee table. It slid to a stop right in front of him.
    My breathing quickened and my leg bounced up and down. I looked him square in those empty, mysterious blue eyes and took a deep breath.
    “You can’t stay here.”
     

 
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter three.
     
     
    None of this sat well with me. I didn’t like any of it. Was I really capable of this? Could I really turn someone away who was in desperate need of help? It wasn’t my responsibility to take care of him, and he couldn’t be trusted. As long as he was staying in my cabin, I’d never get any sleep again. Although, that hadn’t stopped me just moments ago.
    “Of course. I understand,” he said as he stood up glancing around to locate his things. He tried to work his foot into his still soaked boot. I sat there watching as he wobbled back and forth. He was struggling because he just didn’t have the energy to even get himself ready