Read Online Badlands Trilogy (Book 3): Out of the Badlands by Brian J. Jarrett - Free Book Online Page A

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    He walked on, affecting meekness while delicious visions of blood danced throughout his head.
    * * *
    Open farmland became forest as the day pressed on. Lester relieved the two of them, carrying the broomstick and pillow case contraptions to help share the load. Currently he wore Sam’s.
    Chloe watched carefully as Lester and Sam talked freely about end-of-the-world theories involving the government, the army, the Russians and Chinese, even space aliens. Sam appeared to get along fine with this new stranger, a man they’d met only hours ago. But Sam could get along with just about anybody because he was still in many ways just a kid. He didn’t have the kind of jaded cynicism that Chloe possessed.
    When it came down to it, she didn’t think she liked Lester much. Something about him rubbed her the wrong way. What exactly that was she couldn’t seem to put her finger on though. Something about him seemed too perfect. Too agreeable. Too safe. As if he were trying too hard to convince her and Sam how harmless he was. It sounded crazy even to herself, but the sinking feeling in her gut told her otherwise. The problem was translating that message to English and getting Sam to see it as well.
    “I need to pee,” Chloe said, suddenly stopping in her tracks. She lowered the broomstick and pillow cases full of supplies to the ground. Her muscles felt the glorious relief of no longer bearing that weight and she instantly dreaded having to carry it for even another yard. “Sam, can you come with me?” she said, motioning toward the surrounding woods with a nod of her head.
    Sam blushed. “You want me to come with you?”
    “Yeah,” she answered. “Just to be safe. I expect you not to look.”
    “We’ll be right back, Lester,” Sam said. “I want to hear more about your germ warfare theory.”
    “Sure thing, Sam.”
    Chloe grasped Sam’s hand. “Come on. I gotta go.” They left the road and headed into the overgrown shoulder, walking through a carpet of thick weeds before stepping into the trees. They disappeared behind a wall of foliage, but Chloe led Sam further still, just to ensure they remained out of earshot.
    “Chloe, this is weird,” Sam said. “You never asked me to come with you before.”
    “Shut up,” she said, immediately wishing she hadn’t sounded so rough. “Just come with me,” she continued, her voice softer now. Another two dozen feet and she stopped. She turned to Sam, glancing back at the road without noticing she’d done it.
    “Chloe, what gives?”
    “Quiet,” she said, keeping her voice low. “He might hear.”
    “Who, Lester?”
    “Yes, Lester.”
    “So what?”
    “So I don’t want him to, that’s what.”
    “Um, okay,” he said a perplexed look on his face. “I’m not sure why you care.”
    “I don’t trust him,” she said, not dancing around the subject. She hadn’t the time to waste.
    “What do you mean?” he asked. “What’s not to trust? He’s a good guy.”
    “Something’s off with him.”
    “Like what?”
    “I can’t say exactly. But something’s not right with him.”
    “You’re making a big deal over nothing.”
    “I’m not. I swear I’m not. I’m older than you. I can tell these kinds of things,” Chloe said, straightaway wishing she’d phrased it differently.
    “You’re not that much older than me,” Sam said, indignant. “I’m not a kid, you know.”
    She was losing him, she could tell. “Let’s just go right now,” she said. “Just keep walking, into the woods.”
    “I don’t want to,” Sam argued. “Besides, all of our stuff is back there.”
    “We’ll get more. It’s just stuff.”
    “It’s not just stuff and you know it. Food and other supplies are hard to get these days. There’s nothing out here but woods and abandoned farms. Those farmhouses all got picked over years ago and you know it. We’ll starve without that food.”
    “Sam, please.” Now she was begging and she hated the sound of