Free Falling by Susan Kiernan-Lewis

Author:Susan Kiernan-Lewis
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Contemporary Fiction, Contemporary Women, Dystopian, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Science Fiction, Women's Fiction, Action & Adventure, Literature & Fiction
ISBN: 1477506594
Publisher: San Marco Press
Published: 2012-03-22T06:00:00+00:00

Julie slipped out of the bed, peeling the dirty sheets back and trying to ignore if anything moved or crawled as she moved. She looked over her shoulder at Mack still asleep. Unusual for him. He normally didn’t sleep. He had come to bed late and drunk. There had been no conversation.

How different from Arden he was, she thought, before she could stop herself.

There was no point in going down that road, my girl.

She crept out the door of the trailer. The camp was quiet. Most of the men and the few women were still asleep under blankets and molding quilts scattered about on the ground near the now-spent fire. Julie tiptoed to her spot in the woods and relieved herself. The air was icy cold but she didn’t bother putting her shoes on. She looked up to inspect the sky between the trees in the copse surrounding the camp—dark clouds were moving in—and have a brief moment for herself. He would be awake when she got back. It had been a rare gift to have awakened first. She would need to hurry if she didn’t want to spend half the morning calming his anger.

When she came back to the bedroom in the trailer, he was sitting up, his arm bandage dirty and blotchy with dried blood—she couldn’t remember if she’d ever seen him bathe—waiting for her.

“Sorry,” she said, slipping back into bed, careful not to let her cold feet touch his. She’d paid the price for that mistake early on.

“Anybody else up yet?” he asked.

She shook her head.

That seemed to please him at least a little. She knew he liked to be the first one awake.

“Did you make tea?” He asked it as if he expected an obvious affirmative. She cursed herself for not thinking of it. Should she lie?

“I put the water on,” she said. “But I might’ve forgotten to boost up the fire.” She pulled the covers back to jump up and amend the oversight when he stopped her.

“Never mind,” he said. “Someone will be up soon and they’ll do it.”

She returned to her place in bed, watching him.

“How long would you say the Yank has been at your Mam’s?”

The question surprised her. Under Finn’s orders, she had lured the American to her mother’s farm nearly five weeks earlier. Until this moment, Finn had not mentioned it again.

She licked her lips. “About a month, I think,” she said.

“And you checked on him a few weeks ago?”

She nodded. “I went to visit me Mum,” she said.

“And saw him?”

She nodded again. “He…he had had an accident,” she said.

Finn’s eyes flashed to hers from the spot on the ceiling he had been studying.

“What kind of accident?” he asked.

“He…I…I think he fell,” she said, hoping he wouldn’t kill her. She had seen enough evidence of his cruelty to his men and the occasional wandering traveler to know what he was capable of.

“But he’s still alive.”

“Yes, yes,” she said. “He’s alive, but…but…”

“But what Jules?” The look he gave her was as deadly as any pit viper’s, she thought, trying to calm herself enough to answer him.

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