Read Online Tabula Rasa by Kitty Thomas - Free Book Online Page B

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stumbled upon. But then, what Trevor had done seemed even weirder
when you thought about it. How long had he thought he’d get away
with it? How long could he have put me off about looking for other
survivors? Where was he getting the money to survive without his job
at the hospital? Wouldn’t he get tired of living like this? But
then there were long periods he was gone. I thought he’d been
hunting. Maybe not.
    Suddenly, remembering all those gallons of purified water in the
kitchen, I realized he’d probably stocked the deep freezer ahead of
time with stuff he’d bought from the grocery store. I was such an
idiot.
    I jumped when Shannon put a hand on my knee.
    “Elodie. I will
not hurt you. I’m sorry I’m scaring you, but I trust you as much
as you trust me right now. Not at all. You’re putting me in a bad
position. My training screams eliminate
the problem. I’m not going to do
that, but you are coming
with me.”
    I found myself nodding before I realized I had. The stress of being
in this position of not only not remembering anything and having the
world pulled out from under me, but being in this limbo with someone
so dangerous had me making choices I was sure I would otherwise never
make.
    He untied me and put the rope back into his bag. “Now, come help me
put out these fires. It’ll help if you can stay busy.”
    I nodded and followed him to the fireplace.
    He handed me the small shovel and said, “Just keep scooping the
ashes on top until the fire goes out. And then do the other one. I’m
going to look for something to store the body in. Can I trust you not
to run? I don’t want to chase you.”
    I nodded again and focused on putting out the fires. When he left I
tried not to think about running because he was right about all that
stuff he said. I couldn’t make it on my own with no memories
without involving the police. And if I involved the police, well...
Shannon would never let that happen. He’d die before he’d let me
get out of this park to implicate him.
    Right around the time I’d finally gotten the fires out, Shannon
returned, practically gleeful and giddy with two large rolling pieces
of metal luggage. “Look what I found in the lost and found.”
    He took the shovel from me and scooped out Trevor’s charred remains
and put them in the wheelbarrow. Then he went back to the kitchen.
When Shannon returned several minutes later, he was empty-handed.
    “Where’s
Trevor?”
    “In the freezer.
He needs to cool a bit before I can pack him in the luggage. I think
he’s in small enough pieces to fit.”
    As fucked-up as that statement was, by this point it was hard to work
up a lot of shock and distress after I’d been immersed in this
macabre process for hours now. And he was right, putting out the fire
had helped settle my nerves a bit.
    “Do you have
shoes?” he asked.
    “Y-yes.”
    “Let’s go get
them.”
    I found myself anxious again, moving with him up tight staircases and
up to the tower. We were isolated and alone anyway, but before we’d
been in a much larger space. Shannon had this really strange sort of
energy. On the one hand, he was terrifying. But on the other, a
solid, stable calm emanated from him, and for small bits of time, I
could imagine that if I could somehow trust him, I could start to
feel truly safe again.
    He waited just outside the door while I put my shoes on, then we went
back downstairs. Neither of us spoke while we waited for Trevor to
get cool enough to transport. Finally Shannon took the plastic and
luggage and went back to the kitchen. I followed him and watched
while he moved Trevor out of the deep freezer and into the luggage.
With the plastic in there, too, he just barely fit.
    Shannon did a final sweep to check everything, and then he led me out
of the castle. I got the feeling he was taking me purposefully in a
different direction than he otherwise would have and then doubled
back to avoid his traveling companions.
    He was right; it