Finding Home - A Post Apocalyptic Novel (The Ravaged Land Series Book 2) by Kellee L. Greene Page B

the kitchen wearing nothing but a pair of large sweatpants that hung low on his hips.
    “Good morning,” I said as I watched him walk around the kitchen as if he had as much stake in the cabin as I did. Which I guess, technically, maybe he did. The only claim I had to this house was that I was here first, which maybe was good enough. It seemed a little odd to me how comfortable he had made himself in my home, but I guess that was probably a good thing. If we found the others, what would they think of him?
    “Why didn’t you wake me?” he asked as he pulled out the chair next to me and sat down.
    “I don’t know… guess maybe I wanted a little more time to mentally prepare.”
    “It’ll be fine. For all you know they’ll let us go in, you’ll find your friends, and we can all leave if we want to.”
    I snorted at his words, “Of course we will want to. I know you don’t believe me, but I really think this place is bad news.”
    “The key word is ‘think’… you don’t know. I don’t know. We don’t know. What if your friends are safe and happy? Then what? You’ll just leave them behind so you can be out here on your own struggling?”
    “Better than in there struggling,” I snapped, but I shook my head once his words registered. “Assuming they are even there, I don’t know what I’ll do if they want to stay. It will depend on what happened to Ryan too.”
    I tried not to think about it. First step was to even get inside. Second step was to make sure they were still there. I’d worry about the rest later.
    Penn took a big bite of a toaster pastry and didn’t say anything more on the subject. He usually stopped talking after I mentioned Ryan. It was one of the reasons I rarely talked about him to Penn. Truthfully he didn’t really like talking about any of them very much. Maybe he was worried about what would happen to him once I was reunited with them.
    After we spent a little time getting warm by the fire, Penn picked up the lightly packed bag we had decided to take with us, and flung it over his shoulder. I took a deep breath and stepped closer to the fire. This was far more difficult for me than I thought it would be, but I guess maybe it was because I believed if HOME recognized me, they would kill me. I worried I was walking right into a trap. And I wasn’t ready to die. After I had worked so hard to live. I didn’t want it to come to an end. Not like this. And not at HOME.
    “Ready?” Penn said grabbing the little fireplace shovel. He started moving the ash around and the flames died down. I was pretty sure he’d drag me out of here by my ankles if I didn’t go willingly. He knew how badly I wanted to find my friends. I didn’t know why he cared so much. I guessed it was because he felt like he owed me something for saving him, but as far as I was concerned I did what any normal human being would do. He didn’t owe me anything.
    “No,” I said, taking a deep breath and releasing it slowly between my slightly parted lips. I looked around the little house and its plain, simple decor I had become so familiar with. My hand clenched the house key tightly. I couldn’t take it with me because if I did they’d just take it when they stripped us down. Instead, I was going to hide it in the SUV and hope no one found it, but if someone wanted to get into the house, they’d just break in. They wouldn’t need a key. In all my time here, Penn was the only one that had come this way. I had to hope no one else would randomly be wandering around out here while we were gone. This felt like my house more than any of the other places I had stayed. I had found this place by myself and made it my own. Leaving it was almost like leaving a good friend behind.
    Penn watched me as I looked around saying goodbye to the walls. I didn’t know if he understood, but I didn’t care. He didn’t rush me. Tears welled up in my eyes and I quickly wiped them away.
    “Let’s