Free The McClane Apocalypse Book Three by Kate Morris

last
word.
    Her fair skin is bruised on her forearm, and
Reagan knows enough to know that the four, fading marks there are a
healing bruise from a person's hand. She'd done some work
researching domestic violence and had even worked for a summer at
the E.R. in Nashville while on break from school. Reagan has seen
this form of bruising on domestically abused women. It is hard to
speculate where this girl could've been man handled. Perhaps she'd
been in a scuffle while searching an abandoned home. Perhaps she'd
really just fallen or injured herself. The one speculation that
Reagan fears the most is that someone within her group of traveling
companions could've possibly done this to her.
    "What do you guys do for food? Is it in the
RV?" Cory asks casually.
    Reagan allows him to guide the conversation,
hoping that it will help the kids to feel more comfortable to talk
to him about their situation.
    "Nah, we just drive around and look for
places to find food. Us kids have to get out and go in places…"
Huntley starts, but Sam stops him.
    "Huntley!" she hisses.
    Cory looks at Reagan over Sam's bent head.
There will be much to discuss later this evening if the family can
all dine together. If they can't dine together, then a meeting will
need to be called for the adults.
    "Do they have food out there now?" Cory
asks.
    "Yeah, some," Huntley answers.
    Sam shakes her head as if she can't believe
the boy is telling some big secret to strangers.
    "How long do you think it will last?" Reagan
asks Sam quietly and notices movement over at the camp. The two
women are hanging clothing on the line that they've erected, and
they have the campfire going again, presumably for cooking whatever
food they do have. The woman with the blonde hair is dressed in
micro short shorts and a shirt that is cut off through the center
exposing her tan, flat stomach. Three of the men are simply sitting
in fold-out lawn chairs doing absolutely nothing. Some of the
others are absent, leaving Reagan to wonder where they could be.
Maybe, if they are smart, they are only in the RV's so as not to
earn the wrath of three Rangers.
    "Maybe a few days or so," Sam almost
whispers and is clearly uncomfortable.
    "It'll last longer if we aren't eating it.
Even though they don't give us much," Huntley grumbles the last
comment under his breath.
    Cory swiftly stands, alerting Reagan by his
posture that someone is coming from the new group.
    A young man, the red-headed teen, approaches
as Huntley dashes over to hug him about his waist. The young teen
returns Huntley's hug without embarrassment or shame.
    "Simon!" Huntley says as the older boy
presses him to his stomach.
    He's a tall young man and certainly does
have a messy mop of dark auburn hair and freckles that splatter his
nose and cheeks. He is dressed conservatively, not like the rest of
his group.
    "Hi, I'm Simon."
    The boy extends a hand in a half salute wave
but then holds both hands up in a supplication of passive
surrender.
    He says, "I was just checking on Garrett. I
was worried. I… I know we're not supposed to come over here and I
don't mean any disrespect or anything, but I wanted to see if there
was anything I could do to help."
    Simon offers this to Reagan who has also
stood. The boy has kind blue eyes and is holding a baseball cap and
twisting it nervously in his hands. His eyes are mostly downcast,
and he seems shy and reserved. No wonder he got beat up a lot.
Reagan's pretty sure that she could kick his ass. The world is even
less sympathetic than it used to be. Behaving meekly isn't going to
help this kid get ahead.
    "Simon, I'm Reagan McClane, and I'm a
doctor, too, like my grandfather. This is Cory. He also lives
here," she introduces the two boys so that they don't have tension
between each other. Although if they are going to have a pissing
contest, then Cory would clearly come out as the alpha male victor.
This kid doesn't look like he has a mean bone in his body.
    "Can I see Garrett? Or is there