A smear of red covered half of the back window. The driver rested, limp and unnatural, against the door. There was no sign of the man on the passenger side. No movement came from inside the truck.
“I don’t know.” She gave the binoculars back to Enzo and picked up her gun. If one of the men was still alive, heading past the brown truck would be dangerous. The man might be waiting to exact revenge.
“Should we take the brown truck?” Enzo asked, far too calmly. “It’s probably still functional.”
That’s what he was considering right now? “Dead people are inside.”
“I’ll dump them out beforehand.”
He said the words as though they were obvious. And maybe they were. She couldn’t think clearly. She stared at Enzo and yet saw the explosion of red from the raider’s head repeat in her mind. The smell of gunpowder still clung thickly to the cab. She took deep breaths in an attempt to calm herself.
“If we’re driving in different trucks,” Enzo went on, “and we come across more trouble, you would need to be able to shoot while you’re driving. Can you do that?”
She had to say yes. She couldn’t be so freaked out that they passed up a truck. She nodded. Words weren’t coming to her.
His eyes narrowed, and his gaze went over her. “Maybe we better not risk it. You don’t look like you’re in a state of mind to drive, let alone shoot.”
“I can drive,” she insisted. After all, she drove home after the slave market, and that had been worse than this. Granted, she hadn’t been worried about more marauders on the road.
Enzo shook his head. “You’re hyperventilating. Your life is worth more than another truck. Let’s just go.”
“No.” She worked to control her breathing. “I won’t be the weak one. Go take the other truck. I’ll be fine.”
“I might believe that if you’d blinked sometime in the last minute.”
She blinked, just to show him she could. “See, I’m fine.”
He shifted in his seat and unlatched his seatbelt. “Ok. We’ll take the truck.” He pressed his lips together. “I’d feel better if you drove the one with the speed booster and the bulletproof glass, but it’s a mess and…” He cocked his head. “Are you shaking your head no or just trembling?”
“Both.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to leave the truck?”
“We have to take it. It’s worth more than anything else we’re bringing back.” A half-laugh, half-gulp escaped her throat. “Plunder from criminals. When you joined our co-op, you thought we were peaceful harvesters, but no, we’ve become Vikings. We keep going shopping and coming back with more vehicles. The next time we run out of laundry detergent, we’ll be rich.”
He sighed. “You’re in shock.”
“Then it’s a good thing I know how to drive when I’m in shock. I’ve had practice.” Another laugh. This one veered toward tears. And she couldn’t stop.
He leaned toward her. At first, she thought he was going to take the key fob from her, but he enfolded her in his arms and pulled her into a hug.
“You’re going to be okay,” he murmured into her hair. His arms felt so warm and secure. She wanted him to hold hertighter, so tight that her trembling stopped. “Raiders probably won’t attack two trucks on the road. We’ll be fine. I’ll drive the brown truck ahead of you, so if we do come across any more trouble, I’ll be able to handle it first.”
Charity shut her eyes and buried her face into his shoulder. “You think I’m a wimp, don’t you?”
“No. I think you still have your humanity intact. That’s a good thing.”
She didn’t feel like anything was intact right now. How could he be so calm?
He pulled away from her, his eyes on the road and not her. “We need to get going. Drive slowly up to the raiders’ truck. I’ll make sure they’re dead.”
She took a breath that did little to fortify her, gripped the steering wheel, and edged closer to the truck. The raiders’ engine ran in a soft thrum. Nothing moved inside the cab.
Enzo slid out of the truck, his gun raised. Keeping low, he crept to the passenger side of the raiders’ truck.
A fresh lurch of unease hit her. Any moment now, one of the men would spring up and shoot Enzo.
Still no movement from the cab.