Stuck by Samantha Durante

Author:Samantha Durante [Durante, Samantha]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: postapocalyptic, psychic, new adult, Romance, dystopian, ya, Science Fiction, teen, scifi, Young adult
ISBN: 9780463536742
Publisher: Samantha Durante
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

26. GRATITUDE

Only a few minutes’ journey through the woods – Isaac and Alessa struggling to keep pace with Joe’s springy, loping strides – Joe slowed near a tall outcropping of boulders mixed between brambling tree roots on the side of a hill. Joe turned in a slow circle, grunting and motioning towards an opening in the nearby rock face. They had reached their destination.

Isaac took a deep breath and looked to Alessa, who also seemed to be steeling herself for whatever they would find in that hollow.

Joe grunted more forcefully, urging them into the cave.

“You’re sure about this?” Isaac said quietly to Alessa out of the corner of his mouth, his eyes darting between the crack in the rocks and Joe’s hulking form pacing in the shadows.

Alessa closed her eyes for a moment. “He’s showing me memories of Janie,” she replied.

Isaac inched forward and something crunched under his foot. He looked down.

Bones. The cave entrance was littered with bones.

He prayed that memories weren’t the only thing left of Janie.

Alessa inhaled deeply and then slowly released her breath. He could tell she was thinking the same thing, but also trying to have faith that Joe was still Joe.

“Let’s go,” she said, stepping carefully between the macabre debris and toward the opening in the rocks.

“Here.” Isaac caught up behind her and extended the flashlight in his hand.

She took it with a grateful nod, and he could see the trepidation in her eyes. He placed his hand over hers. “Whatever we find, we’re together,” he reassured her.

She bobbed her head in affirmation, and shined the light into the cave.

A flash of dirty-blonde hair buried in a mound of limbs immediately caught his eye. His stomach clenched with equal parts hope and fear.

“Jo!” he called, pushing past Alessa into the narrow space.

He knelt beside the huddled mass, still not quite sure what he was seeing in the dark.

But when a small head lifted and familiar large, brown eyes peered up at him, squinting against the bright beam of light, he knew he was witnessing a miracle.

Josephine was alive.

“Jo!” he cried again, this time with relief, and he threw his arms around her, cradling her small, shivering body against his chest. She was so tiny, and so thin, but she was alive. Somehow, incredibly, she was alive.

There was movement behind Jo’s back, and quietly a wry voice croaked, “Nice to see you, too.”

“Janie!” Alessa called out. It was only when Alessa lunged to Isaac’s side, changing the shape of the flashlight’s beam, that he realized Jo had been cuddled in Janie’s lap.

Alessa reached around him and threw herself at her sister, sobbing in disbelief at their good fortune.

“How can this be?” Alessa whispered, mostly to herself. “You’re really here…”

The flashlight had fallen to the ground in the commotion and landed at an odd angle, making it difficult to see through the gloom, but Isaac could tell Alessa was clutching at her sister and convincing herself she was whole, much as he was doing with Jo.

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