Page 5 of Citadel

“Del, no.” Breanna gasps when I toss my bag in a surprisingly good throw that lands right into the boat.

“It’s okay. He won’t hurt us.” I don’t have time to explain, and I’m not sure how I would anyway. I don’t know why I trust this man, but I do. He didn’t hurt me on the shore. He’s not going to hurt us now.

I hit the water before Breanna can argue. The dark water surrounds me with a shock of cold, but I make myself start swimming, lifting my head so I can breathe and direct myself to the boat.

I hear a splash behind me. Breanna must have jumped too. Of course she did. Even if I’m heading for doom, she’s going with me.

When I reach the boat, the man leans down and hauls me up in one strong move, depositing me in a wet heap beside him. I scramble out of the way so he can pull Breanna up too. The boat wobbles but doesn’t turn over.

He grabs the oars and starts rowing in powerful strokes, taking us away from the hotel.

I shake myself off in an attempt to get dry. Breanna’s teeth are chattering as she crawls over to sit beside me. “You know him?” she whispers.

“I ran into him earlier today.”

“He’s safe?”

I shrug since I don’t know the answer. “He’s better than the others.”

The man probably hears our murmured conversation, but he’s not looking at us and he doesn’t react.

He also doesn’t say anything. Just rows parallel to the shore until we’re out of sight of the hotel. Then he brings us all the way onto land.

* * *

Breanna and I are both shivering as we climb off the boat and wade onto the somewhat dry ground.

She peers out into the lowering darkness of the sea. “Do you think we can go back? How long will they stay?”

“No telling,” the man mutters. His eyes still look weirdly silver even in the dim light. They slide from Breanna to me.

“We can’t go back anyway,” I say, stating the common-sense truth that my sister probably knows as well. “The others will all be dead or… or whatever. Gone. We can’t make it there on our own.”

Maybe we could for a while. But life is too hard now to be on our own. Too tenuous without more hands to work and defend.

We wouldn’t last very long.

She nods, her features working slightly. We’ve been safe here for going on two years. It’s been the first time we could relax even a little, take a full breath.

Now it’s gone. Just like everything else we used to have faith in.

Leaving nothing but the two of us and this fierce stranger who’s clearly used to looking out for himself.

“Were you with those others?” Breanna asks, looking from the man to the ocean.

“We were goin’ the same way for a while. But that’s not me.” He gestures back in the direction we came from. “I’m not like them. Y’all got anywhere to go?”

I shake my head.

“Just somewhere safe,” Breanna says.

“Doesn’t exist anymore.”

“Anywhere,” I tell him. “Can you at least get us far enough away?” I glance back nervously to where it still feels those violent men are lurking.

“Yeah. I’ll do that. We better get some distance before we rest.”

Breanna and I follow when he starts to walk.

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