Page 26 of A Wilderness Within

And my choice is protecting her at all cost.

The house they’d been staying at deep in the neighborhood was much safer than a strip mall. After he had talked with Glenn, Lincoln had realized that the other man was afraid to leave the store. He’d made a good little space for himself and his wife, but he didn’t want to leave it. Glenn didn’t understand that the lights weren’t coming back on, and the world wasn’t going to come back to the way it had been. Not for a long time. Maybe not ever.

We’re in the wilderness now. If a man couldn’t face that, he wouldn’t survive.

“Do you…do you really know how to farm?” she asked, sniffing a little.

Lincoln refused to look at Caroline. Crying women set his teeth on edge, and if she was crying, he’d really be fucking pissed knowing he had caused it.

“I have had some training. I worked on a ranch as a teen.”

“North Carolina?” She perked up at this. Her eyes were red-rimmed from tears, but she wiped the tears away. It was a punch to his gut see the evidence of the pain his decision had caused. So he kept talking. She seemed to like to hear him talk about himself. He wasn’t used to that, but if that’s what she wanted, he’d talk until he lost his voice.

“I worked summers at old man Peterson’s ranch. He lived on the outskirts of the city. He knew my father and offered me a job baling hay and breaking in geldings.” It had been hard work, but he’d loved it all, from the blisters and exhaustion to the feel of a horse coming to trust him so that they became one unit. He’d grown into a man on that ranch.

“I worked at the vet clinic one summer,” Caroline said, but her tone was tinged with sorrow.

“You didn’t like it?” He was surprised. She was so sweet and caring; the animals had to have loved her.

She shook her head. “I wanted to be a vet. I love animals. But I figured out after just a few weeks that I couldn’t handle it.” She studied her hands in her lap, and he refocused his attention on the highway, careful to dodge any abandoned cars. Fortunately, most were on the shoulders of the road.

“What couldn’t you handle?”

She didn’t answer at first. “The dying. The suffering. Seeing the pain of a dog as it struggled for breath. It…” She swallowed. “I used to cry every night after work. I wasn’t strong enough. I’m not strong enough now.”

Lincoln pulled the car over to the side of the road, more out of habit than anything. He could have just stopped in the middle of the road. He leaned over and cupped her chin.

“Look at me,” he commanded, but he kept his tone gentle.

She raised her gaze to his, and he sucked in a breath. Fuck, she was so damn beautiful, and she didn’t have a clue what she did to him. Her dark hair hung loose around her shoulders, and he wanted to fist his hands in it and drag her to him.

“Strength isn’t the absence of pain or fear. It’s about facing it head-on and staying alive. You’re strong, Caroline.”

Tears glistened in her eyes, and he couldn’t stop himself.

“Fuck it.” He pulled her close and slanted his mouth down over hers. She tasted sweet, and her lips were so soft. He parted her mouth with his tongue and fisted a hand in her hair as he stroked her tongue with his. Kissing her was like touching a live wire. It was a violent shock to his system that made his ears ring and his blood roar through his veins. He could’ve kissed her for days, but he had to stop.

He pulled back, all too satisfied with the dazed expression on her face. He brushed the pad of his thumb over her lips. “Anyone still alive in this fucked-up world is strong. You got me?”

“Yeah.” She reached up and touched her lips. A blush stained her cheeks.

“We’ll meet people the more we travel, and they won’t all be nice like Glenn and Joanie. You have to be prepared, okay? We can’t save everyone, and we can’t be friends with everyone. Just be prepared.”

“I am prepared. I’ve seen the best and the worst of what we can be in the last few months.” She paused for a moment and licked her lips nervously. “We are a team, aren’t we?” she asked, worry in her eyes. “You won’t abandon me if I don’t fit your plans?”

“No,” he promised. Shewashis plan. Nothing else in this world made sense anymore except being with her, protecting her. He started driving again. Neither of them spoke until they reached the familiar place they’d been secretly calling home the last few days. It seemed abandoned, and it was far enough from anywhere that it might be untouched.

“Remember to pack everything of value. We’ll load it and the chickens in the car tomorrow and leave at first light.”

They entered the house, him first and her behind. But it took only a second to realize that they had made a mistake. The creak of floorboards, the rustle of cloth, the click of a trigger being pulled…

“Run!” he bellowed to Caroline, shoving her back into the yard.

Pain exploded in his shoulder, and he stumbled back, smacking the doorjamb. Caroline screamed, and he struggled not to fall. If he fell, he might not have the strength to get back up.

“Lincoln!” Caroline screamed. He looked deeper into the house as three men approached him, all dressed in military gear, armed to the teeth.

Fuck.How had he been so stupid? He should have left her in the car and checked the place himself first.Shit, shit, shit…

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