The Final Trade Read Free

everyone.”
    “That’s exactly what they pounded into us in the ARC. If one of us broke the rules the next closest woman was punished as well. They kept us bound to each other.” Lily’s smiling face comes back to her then, the excitement radiating off her after pronouncing a word correctly. She sees Lily raising her arms up and down in the light of the flames from the downed helicopter, pretending to be a bird. One of Zoey’s hands strays to her stomach and touches the healed bullet wound. Amidst the memory her anger rises even as she tries to quell the emotion.
    “You know what I mean. All I’m asking is you not make a snap decision. Things aren’t the same as they were before. Chelsea and Tia have been hunted for a long time. They still are. Now there’s you, Sherell, and Rita to think about. If any of you were taken or hurt, I . . .” He stops himself, and she knows he’s thinking about his daughter Meeka, her best friend and one of the women she failed to save.
    “What?”
    Merrill’s voice softens. “I get that you want to know your heritage, find out what your last name is, see the place where you and your parents lived before all this. And I know you want that for Rita and Sherell too.” She says nothing. The pines whisper and creak in the late autumn air. “I’m not asking you to give that up. But always remember you already have a family you’ll never have to go looking for.”
    The darkness hides most of his features, and as she looks at him something bends, nearly breaking, inside of her before coming back into place. She swallows the knot in her throat and is about to reply when he climbs out of the vehicle.
    “Let’s get this old pig covered up,” he says.

    After concealing the Suburban with camouflage netting, they begin the hike to Ian’s cabin. They move single file through the forest that covers the side of the mountain like a maze. There is little ambient light from the cloud-smothered moon to see by, but Zoey could find the cabin with her eyes shut.
    Here is the rock that looks like a dog lying on its back. Here is the broken tree that fell in a storm two months ago. Here is the scent of food drifting down through the forest. Here is the only true home she’s ever known.
    Dancing firelight appears in the dark, and after they wind through a section of crumbling rock and bramble, the cabin appears.
    Built into the side of the mountain, its original structure is hidden almost completely from sight. The addition that’s been constructed over the last four months looks native to the surrounding forest, with its supports of unfinished pine and steel roof thatched over with needles and boughs. In front of the dwelling a small fire burns in a pit and four grouse cook above it on a spit. A low growl comes from their right and a large, black dog appears, eyes reflecting the firelight.
    “Seamus! Come here!” Zoey says, setting her bag down and kneeling. The dog’s growling ceases and he bounds over, nearly knocking her flat as he runs into her. “Fat dog. You gained weight since we left,” she says, scratching him behind the ears.
    “He’d eat all our food if we let him,” Eli says as he passes. “Big bastard needs to go on a diet.”
    “You’re just pissed that he’s in better shape than you are,” Tia says.
    “I’m a specimen of fitness. Look at this,” he says, flexing both biceps so that they bulge in his shirtsleeves.
    “That really does nothing for me.”
    “Admit it, I’m wearing you down.”
    “I’ll turn straight the day you’re not black anymore.”
    “Workin’ on it, baby. I haven’t tanned in nearly a month.”
    Their banter pulls laughter from Zoey as she gives Seamus one last pet and grabs her bag. A tall form stands beside the fire as they approach. Ian’s smile lights up his entire face and even with his smashed and crooked nose, the old man is handsome.
    “The wanderers return,” he says, gathering Zoey into a hug. He is the only person