Page 34 of Echoes of War

Though Seth and he were twins, they had always differed in that way. Hunter was a giant teddy bear; he wanted nothing more than for everyone to live harmoniously, to spread love. I had screamed in shock, which had caused Sloan’s father, my uncle, to turn his attention toward me.

I ran for my life as he shouted after me, running into my father’s arms. Quickly, knowing he was right on my tail, I’d explained what I could. When Uncle Harris approached, my father unloaded. I spared Sloan and her mom the gory details and the absence of emotion my father had presented when he’d done so.

That wouldn’t help anyone move on, which is why they were here.Right?My father had told me not to tell Momma what had happened, to blame it on the Pansies. Then one grabbed my father, dragging him into the pond he stood around. He’d been bitten.

The word ‘father’ burned my tongue. He was no father; he was the antichrist. The more I sat back and thought things through, the more I’d become determined to stop at nothing to end him.

I paused, trying to calm myself after recalling such horrid memories. They waited patiently for me to continue, and when I felt strong enough, the rest of the story unfolded. My father had ordered me to kill him, thinking he would turn.

We hadn’t known any better, no one did. At least not out in Montana. I missed, my hands shaking too much at something I’d never imagined I would have to do. Even as death lingered, my father had consoled me, told me it was okay and he would take care of it. His instructions were simple, to find my mother then blame it all on the undead. So I did.

Panic seized me. I ran off, never getting a chance to learn what had become of him. The gunfire had drawn attention to our ranch and my home had gone under attack. Seth and I had fled within an hour of it all happening, my momma succumbing to the Pansies in our defense. That was the day I learned a shotgun meant nothing against a herd. You needed more than that, an array of skills and an armory to back you up.

“Shit, Reina …”

“What, Sloan?” I said defensively, expecting the worst to come from her.

Her words were gentle, “You are braver than I could ever be.”

I sat there for a moment, questioning everything.Brave? Am I supposed to be proud of what I did to survive?Because I wasn’t. I missed my brother, wanted him back. I would do anything to rewind time and try to do things better.

Sloan leaned forward, her freckled hands taking one of mine. Her thumb circled the base of my hand, my cousin, the one I had admired my entire life, was now facing me with earnest blue eyes. “I am so sorry.”

“For which part?” I asked. There was a lot she’d done the last few weeks, most of the things had dug deeper into a wound already formed by family. Sloan had hurt me in a way only family could.

“For all of it. My behavior since you all arrived. For trying to have you all killed, for having Seth betray you under false pretenses. My father … I’m so damn sorry for it all.”

“Yeah,” I chuckled, though it was absent of any real humor. “Guess we both got fathers we can’t be proud of.”

My auntie sat there, a display of shell shock in her once vibrant hazel eyes.

“Auntie?” I asked softly.

Her wispy hair fell in front of her pale face as she peered up at me slowly. “I knew about his past, what he didout in Montana before their parents sent him to the military. I thought he could change … thought he did change.”

Seth had found old newspapers in Sloan’s attic of a string of murders around town in the ‘80s that went unsolved. My uncle had left for the military shortly after, never to return again. Until one day, Sloan’s momma had kicked him out, and he’d come to stay with us. Then the bombs dropped, the rest history.

“Momma? What the hell!” Sloan’s lips curled in disgust.

“It’s all my fault,” she offered, “Oh God. I’m an enabler. I just thought … I thought I wasn’t strong enough to raise you on my own. I had no degree, never worked a day in my life. I got pregnant with you right after high school. Met him at a bar visiting one of my childhood girlfriends. We’d snuck ourselves in. I didn’t think I had any options. Oh Sloan, what have I done?” Hopeless tears streamed down her face at the confession.

Sloan moved to comfort her, dropping my hand in the process. “No, Momma. This isn’t on you. This is onhimand onlyhim. He was a monster. Guess it’s a signature Moore trait.”

“It’s not. Don’t say that. Sloan, we are not the people who fathered us.” That was something I was sure of. I may be his daughter, but Ronan Moore was no longer my father. “We can be better than them, I know it.”

“Easier to say when you don’t have blood on your hands, cousin. Seth and I, unfortunately, we have a lot.”

“You and her are one in the same, ya know?” I said, the realization bringing me a sense of comfort in the oddest of ways. I suddenly found myself glad they had found each other in The Before, like God had put them directly on a path leading up to this moment in The After.

Her auburn brows furrowed at the indication. “Who?” Sloan asked.

“Amaia. I know you two were friends in The Before, so you had to have something in common. At first, I couldn’t see it, but now, I reckon you have even more similarities. She didn’t want this either; she reminds us of it every day too.”

Sloan released a dry laugh, her fingers twiddled with the hem of her sweater. Probably itching to spark a cigarette if I had to guess. “Yeah, well, for someone who doesn’t want it, she does a damn good job at it.”

“She isn’t without her own failures on her way to being who she is now,” I said, unsure if I was still mad at her or trying to come to her defense. “Amaia made mistakes, people died because of them. Seth left because of it.”

“Sweetie, you can’t put that on her. Seth left because that’s who he is. I know you love your brother, but he has always walked in your father’s shadow. His departure was inevitable.”

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