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never ask you to do that. It’s not a choice, Nathan.” She began to open the door, and Nathan took her<br />
wrist in his hand. “Let go,” she said calmly.<br />
“Scarlet, I’m asking you. Don’t do this.”<br />
“I’m not waiting for them anymore. I have to help them. This is the only way I know how.”<br />
“And what if you get yourself killed and they show up here What am I supposed to tell them That<br />
they came all the way here for nothing”<br />
Scarlet sta<strong>red</strong> at Nathan, wriggled her wrist out of his grasp, and then looked to Joey. “Are you<br />
coming or not”<br />
“Right behind you.” Joey began to follow Scarlet, but he stopped at the door. “I’ll keep her safe,<br />
Nate.”<br />
Nathan nodded.<br />
Bryce kissed my cheek. “I’m going, too.”<br />
“What” I said. “Why”<br />
“I want to make sure she doesn’t get herself killed before her kids get here. I’ve been watching her<br />
wait on that porch every morning for a month. I’ll be damned if she doesn’t get to see them because<br />
we didn’t help her.”<br />
“Then I’m going, too,” I said.<br />
Bryce shook his head. “No, you and Ashley need to stay here with the girls. Coop”<br />
“Yeah,” Cooper said, leaning over to kiss Ashley. Against Ashley’s persistent pleas, he grabbed a<br />
baseball bat and followed Bryce out the door.<br />
Once the door closed behind Cooper, the house was instantly and eerily quiet. Nathan took Zoe<br />
and Elleny to the table and began pulling out food for breakfast. Ashley stood at the door, watching<br />
Cooper walk down the road.<br />
“You really think her kids are out there” Ashley said, keeping her eye on the group. “You think<br />
they’re still alive”<br />
“Yes,” Nathan said from the kitchen.<br />
“You shouldn’t have let her go,” I snapped. “Everyone we love is out there.”<br />
Nathan’s worried eyes softened as he looked down at his daughter. “How could I argue with her<br />
when I would do the same”<br />
Scarlet<br />
FOUR PAIRS OF SHOES ON dirt and gravel was the only sound. No one said a word as we walked east up<br />
the <strong>red</strong> dirt <strong>hill</strong> and back down, toward the intersection and then back north toward the cemetery at the<br />
next mile section. Bryce and Cooper trailed behind Joey and me by about ten feet—on purpose, I<br />
assumed.<br />
Despite being determined not to, Nathan’s pleas for me to stay kept entering my mind. I glanced
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