Chosen by Christine Pope (free children's ebooks pdf txt) 📕

Someone was standing there, staring up at the house. From the way his mouth was moving, it sounded as if he was calling out, but the security system didn’t have audio, only video. And because it was a chilly day, threatening rain just like the time I’d had my meltdown in the plaza, all the windows were shut.

Should I ignore him? Wait it out and hope he would go away? If he’d meant to sneak in and wreak havoc, he probably wouldn’t have been shouting for attention at the front gate. Still….

This was the first living soul I’d seen in two weeks. The camera didn’t show a huge amount of detail, because the sun was at his back and all I could see was his silhouette, but I hadn’t seen any evidence of a gun or any other weapon. Not that that meant much.

Deciding to compromise, I got the shotgun out of the gun safe and then headed out the front door, Dutchie tagging along at my heels. She hadn’t barked yet, but maybe that was only because she hadn’t yet caught a whiff of the stranger.

I walked down the driveway and paused about six feet from the gate. Because the drive sloped up the hill toward the house and the garage, I had something of a vantage point, could see that this unwelcome visitor was a young man probably around my age or maybe a few years older. Black hair pulled back into a ponytail, warm brown skin, black almond-shaped eyes. Definitely Native American.

And…gorgeous. Like, the kind of gorgeous I would’ve had a hard time not staring at if I’d been in a club or out with my friends at a restaurant or the movies or the mall. Having someone who looked like that turn up on my doorstep, when I hadn’t seen anyone since the man I’d shot outside Walgreens?

Well, let’s just say it was a little overwhelming.

But not so much I forgot that I was here alone, sitting on top of a stockpile of supplies that were a damn good incentive for murder, as far as I was concerned. I hefted the shotgun so he could see it, but didn’t bring it up to eye level.

“Who are you?” I demanded, while Dutchie sat beside me, wagging her tail. So much for looking intimidating.

“Jason Little River,” he said, eyeing the shotgun but clearly attempting to keep a pleasant expression on his face. “My friends call me Jace.”

“So, Jason,” I said, emphasizing his full name, “how did you find this place?”

He paused, clearly a little disconcerted by the hostility in my tone. “The tire tracks,” he replied, pointing at the rutted road that led to the compound. Since it had started raining on the way back from my last trip into town, the tracks I’d left were fairly defined. Damn. I hadn’t even thought of that.

But those obvious tire tracks didn’t explain everything. “You still had to get a good way out of town to even see where this road started.”

“True. I had a friend who lived on Upper Canyon. I came here to Santa Fe — well, I came here hoping he might still be okay. Stupid, I know.” Jason paused, gaze lingering on the shotgun before returning to my face. “And when I went to his house….” Under the heavy backpack he wore, the kind of metal-framed thing serious hikers used, his shoulders lifted. “No one there, of course. I was sort of walking around, trying to figure out what to do next, and I saw the tracks on the road going up the hill past his property. I figured I might as well check it out. The tracks seemed too fresh to have been made before…well, before.”

I didn’t bother to ask him what he meant by “before.” For all of us survivors, our lives would forever be divided between “before” and “after.” “You say you came here to Santa Fe. Where from?”

“Taos. I lived on the pueblo there.” A disarming grin, one that under different circumstances might have made my knees melt. “Well, part-time. I also had an apartment in town. You?”

It was on my lips to say I was the one asking the questions here, but that sounded awfully rude, even under the current circumstances. “Albuquerque.”

His eyebrows went up. “How’d you manage to get here, of all places?”

I hefted the shotgun. “I don’t think that matters. I’m here now.”

He didn’t miss the way I’d shifted the gun, just enough to show I wasn’t thrilled by his questions. “Hey, it’s okay. It’s just — I haven’t seen anyone for almost two weeks. I’m probably a little off.”

You and me both, honey. Relenting a little, I asked, “So no one was left in Taos?”

A shadow seemed to pass over his face, but his voice was level as he replied, “No one in the pueblo. When I went into town, I didn’t see anyone, except one woman lurking around one of the hotels. She took one look at me and ran off screaming.” He shrugged. “Since I could tell she wasn’t open to conversation, I didn’t bother to go after her. She could have been armed.”

“And you weren’t?”

Again I saw his eyes flicker toward the gun I held. “No. Well, not besides this.” His hand went to his hip, where I could see he wore some kind of leather scabbard, about the size to conceal a hunting knife.

“Let me see it.”

From this distance, I couldn’t really hear him sigh, but I could tell his patience was starting to run thin. Holding my gaze, he undid the snap that kept the knife in place, then pulled it out of its sheath. As I’d thought, it was a big piece clearly designed for hunting, with a serrated edge. My father had owned one not unlike it.

“And that’s all?” I asked.

He nodded, then went on, “Hey, I have a peace offering.”

“What?” Saying my tone was guarded would have been an understatement.

“I’m going to get something out of my backpack,” he said, laying the knife down in the dirt in front of him. “Okay?”

“Depends what it is,” I told him.

A grin, one that showed off a dazzling set of white teeth. I had a feeling he’d used that smile to good effect a number of times in the past, but I had to make it seem as if it wasn’t affecting me, even though I could feel a not-unpleasant shiver go through me at the way the smile lit up his dark eyes.

“I think you’ll like this.”

He unslung the backpack, setting it on the ground before unzipping it and spending a few seconds going through its contents. His back was to me, so I couldn’t see exactly what he was doing. Almost at once, though, he turned around. In each hand he held a wine bottle.

“Very nice, but I’ve got a pretty stocked cellar up there,” I said, jerking my chin back toward the house.

“Ah, but this is La Chiripada cabernet sauvignon. New Mexico wine. You have any of that?”

I really didn’t have any idea. Besides the wine refrigerator in the kitchen, I’d discovered another trove in the basement, cases and cases of wine, most of it from California and France, from what I could tell, and some odd bits from South America and Arizona. I hadn’t noticed anything from New Mexico, but then again, I hadn’t exactly been looking for it, either.

As I hesitated, not sure how to respond, I heard the voice in my head.

He is safe.

“What?” I murmured under my breath, hoping the stranger wouldn’t notice me muttering to myself.

He is safe. There is no reason to keep him out.

“Wait…you actually want me to let him in?”

Yes.

To say I was flummoxed would be an understatement. Here it seemed the voice had done everything to keep me safe, to have me avoid other survivors because of the dangers involved, and now he wanted me to allow a strange man to simply walk into my sanctuary here?

“What happens if he isn’t safe?”

He is safe. I promise you.

Even with the voice stating his opinion so flatly, I couldn’t help hesitating. True, he had always protected me, argued with me when I wanted to do things he found too dangerous. So I supposed I should be trusting his judgment here.

I sent a sidelong glance in the stranger’s direction. He was still standing there, a bottle in each hand, a half hopeful, half anxious expression on his face. There was something so goofy about the combination, so oddly adorable, that I found myself relenting.

“All right,” I muttered to the voice. “You’d just better not be playing supernatural matchmaker here or something, or we’ll be discussing this further.”

No answer to that. I hadn’t really expected one.

Not quite allowing myself to sigh, I transferred the shotgun to my left hand and began walking to the gate. There was a manual release there, since obviously I hadn’t brought the remote with me.

“Okay,” I told Jason. “I’ve never had La Chiripada.”

The look of relief that passed over his face was also adorable, and erased some of the strain I’d seen in his features. “Great. Thanks. I appreciate this. Really.” He began stuffing the wine bottles into his backpack, then hefted it onto his shoulders. After that, he shot me a questioning look. “And your name is?”

“Jessica,” I told him as I pushed the button to open the gate. “Jessica Monroe.”

Another one of those blazing smiles. “Well, Jessica, I am very pleased to make your acquaintance.”