Read Online As the World Ends by Marian Lanouette - Free Book Online Page B

her seat and stared at Rob.
    “How would that have been better? It would have been cruel to leave him tied up for the animals. Plus, I needed to know how mobile he was,” Rob muttered.
    Oh, she knew that tone. “I’m right you’re wrong tone.”
    “I didn’t mean to leave him there. We could have brought him down off the mountain and turned him over to the police and report the incident. What now?” She spoke to him like a mother who had reached the end of the road with a troubled child.
    “Don’t be so condescending. If I didn’t shoot him, he’d be raping you right now.”
    “I’m not being condescending. The guy was badly hurt, Rob. He couldn’t come after me if he wanted to.” She pulled one of her curls straight, an unconscious act she did when frustrated.

    He reached over and placed his right hand on her knee gently caressing it. “Lauren, I told you, I would do whatever was necessary, remember?”
    “Yes.”
    “This was necessary. You think…Oh crap.”
    Something hit hard under the carriage of the truck. Damn, I hope it wasn’t a rock. Christ, just what we need. Rob slammed the shifter into park, jumped out, and lowered himself to the ground. Oil poured out of the truck. Not just a rock, but a sharp rock that tore a large hole in the oil line.
    “How the hell am I supposed to stop that?” he yelled.
    Lauren had gotten out of the car and stood over him, “Stop what?”
    “We’re losing oil. There’s a hole the size of New York in the line. This vehicle is useless now,” he said as he pushed up off the ground to stand beside her. Anger filled every pore of his body. In frustration he kicked the tire.
    “Useless?”
    “Yes, useless. We’re going to have to walk off the mountain. It’s getting dark, so we can’t do it tonight. Son of a bitch!” He pounded his fists on the hood of the truck.
    “Where are we going to stay?”
    Taking a deep breath to calm down he turned to her. “In the truck tonight, it should be safe. I’m not going back to the cave. We don’t know where Roan is. I think we’re much closer to the town than the cave anyway.” Or so he hoped.
    Trying to get his bearing he looked around to see how far down the mountain they had actually gotten. With no landmarks he found it difficult to determine their progress. Though they had driven for over a half hour, Rob thought he was being careful. The rock screwed them good. In his judgment they hadn’t gotten far. They were maybe twenty or thirty miles from the caves. The good news, Roan would have to be superman to catch up with them in his condition. The bad news, it would take days to get off the mountain walking. They had limited supplies and worse, limited ammunition.
    “He’s probably right where we left him, Rob,” she said, sarcastically.
    “I think he’s stronger than you give him credit for. He’s probably in our cave if he’s smart.” Frustrated, Rob kicked the tire again. “Lauren, I need to know if he shows up here, that you’re prepared to defend yourself. In case anything happens to me.”
    “Rob, stop scaring me. Nothing’s going to happen to you. And yes, I won’t let that bastard within feet of me.”

    Lauren stood to the side and watched as Rob worked off his frustration and anger. He’d been unusually quiet since he shot Roan. It frightened her. Not for one minute had she believed he would shoot him. Lord, we left a man to die today. How are we going to live with ourselves? And now this. I really wanted to be in town tonight. Could I shoot the guy if he came after me? I gave Rob the answer he wanted, but in reality…I don’t think I could. Let’s hope Rob is just being Rob and all the worry is for nothing.
    “What if he dies, Rob. What then?” she asked for the third time.
    “Who’s going to know?” he shrugged. “By the time they find him, the animals should have feasted on him”
    No, he wasn’t fooling her. Rob had never been a brute or cruel. This had to be eating at him.