red hill - jamie mcguire

Chapter Sixteen
Nathan
“KIDS” I ASKED.
“The corner house. Four . . . no, make that five. Three boys and two girls. Teenagers, by the looks
of ’em. They’re alive.”
I lowered my gun and motioned for Zoe to stay in the house. “Then we should probably introduce
ourselves.”
As I crossed the street and walked down the block, I tried to keep my posture relaxed, and my gun
down. I could only see one kid, one of the boys, his dark hair wiry. He was a ball of testosterone and
muscles like I was at that age.
I stopped on the street corner and held up my hand. “Hey there. We’re friendly. No need to
worry.”
The boy didn’t speak, he just watched me. Another girl, blond, pale, and exceedingly beautiful,
took a step out from behind him, her eyes fluttering between her people and me and Walter.
Walter walked up beside me and stopped.
“Are they from Shallot” I asked.
“Nope.”
“Uh,” I began. “You guys okay”
Another girl stepped out. This one was shorter, with long, auburn hair. Her brown eyes looked
right through me. “We can’t get the pumps at the gas station to work.”
“You’re out of gas” I asked.
The kids looked at each other. They were either really smart and didn’t want me stealing their
ride, or they were too scared to speak. I didn’t think for a second the latter was the case for the
redhead. I doubted she’d ever hesitated to speak what was on her mind in her life.
Walter’s screen door slammed and I turned to see Zoe standing next to Joy. She clearly wanted to
leave the safety of the porch to be closer to me, but Joy kept a gentle hand on Zoe’s shoulder. I
couldn’t hear what she’d said, but it seemed to calm my daughter.
I turned back to the kids. “You guys just passing through, then”
“Yes, but like I said, we need gas. The pumps at the gas station aren’t working,” Red said. “Do
either of you know anything about it”
I took mental notes of everyone in their group. The tallest one had a nice face. The second tallest
looked like he’d had some military training. I could tell by the tall kid’s shoes and his hands that he
was a rich kid, but his eyes said he was a good kid. The other boy looked like a jock, possibly a frat
boy. He watched the soldier and the redhead a lot. The soldier was the one to watch for sure,