Free Abandon by Stephanie Dorman Page A

on him before, and certainly not for asking questions.  Things must be bad.  Things must be really bad.  He looked over to the passenger seat to see Katy had already scrambled back in the car and had her seatbelt on.  Putting the car in gear, he quickly backed up from the officer who relaxed a little upon seeing the car move, and appeared to start scratching something in on his chest and wavering against the car.
    Katy was leaning forward on the dash watching his behavior.  “He looks sick Cort,” she said slowly.  He knew she was asking him if they should stop and help the officer.  He did look like he was wasn’t going to last out there much longer.  Cort wasn’t in the habit of sticking around after people who pulled guns on him though.
    “He told us to go Katy, so we’re gonna go,” Cort said as he rounded the corner back onto the highway.  The engine rumbled, accelerating the car quickly down the highway.  He silently thought that he was glad they had Annalise’s car instead of his because of the speed with which he could get away from Cumberland as fast as possible.  “If someone reaches for a gun while I’m talking to them it’s probably not a reason to stay.”  
    Katy braced herself against the door watching the speedometer climb as Cort continued towards the house.  “We didn’t find out anything though, what about the power?”
    Cort let go of the wheel with one hand reaching over to squeeze Katy’s free hand.  He could hear the apprehension in her voice and understood how difficult this situation had to be for her.  She hadn’t been preparing for this moment her entire adult life like he had.   “We’ll figure it out.  We’ll keep to the plan.”
    Katy’s hand wasn’t squeezing his back, instead she was staring at the road in front of them with a resignation that he had never seen in her before.  She looked like a person who had lost their way and was unsure of how they would get back.  He supposed, in a way, they all were.
    “I’ll figure it out Katy,” he repeated.
    His voice broke her out of the vacant state she was in with a jolt, and from the corner of his eye he could see her looking at him.  “What if you don’t?”
    Cort pressed down on the pedal to make the engine speed up towards the house.  He would talk to everyone about it.  They would figure it out as a team.  They had to.  Survival was the name of the game right now and that was what he intended to do.

Part II
    The Storm
    “Courage is not the towering oak that sees storms come and go; it is the fragile blossom that opens in the snow.”
    Alice M Swaim

Chapter 11:  Annalise
    Deep Creek Lake, Western Maryland
December 16, 2012
    It had been two days since Cort had arrived from Cumberland and discussed the events of the trip.  He had done so in a factual manner, calm and collected, but the news had still left the entire group in a stunned silence.  Each person sitting around the table and had retreated into their own heads while they digested Cort’s information.  For Annalise, she was thinking about Meredith and wondering if she had made it to Tennesse.  That drive was significantly longer than the one Annalise made and she was concerned she got stopped somewhere.  Meredith could be somewhere she didn’t know anyone, holed up unable to leave.   Annalise mentally chided herself for her thoughts.  Since it didn’t look like communications or power would be coming up anytime soon and she wasn’t likely to be able to get an answer to those questions, and worrying wouldn’t do anyone here any good.
    Katy’s emotions had been on the surface for everyone to see, which was disconcerting as well.  For the first time since they had arrived, Annalise saw her as a person instead of something that was standing in her way.  The trip had obviously scared Katy by the way her eyes stared at the table, and her hands clenched tightly in her lap. After explaining everything, Cort had immediately