Chapter 473 - 86 - Something wrong

Chapter 473: Chapter 86 - Something wrong

Chen woke before sunrise.

For a few seconds, he didn’t remember where he was. The unfamiliar ceiling above him was stained with age, and cold morning light had only just begun creeping through the dirty windows. Then he felt the warm body tucked against his side.

Skyy.

Memories of the previous night returned almost immediately.

Chen’s gaze dropped.

Skyy was sleeping against his chest with one arm loosely draped across his waist. His face was half hidden beneath the blanket, his hair sticking up messily around his forehead.

Chen’s eyes moved lower without meaning to.

Nothing had changed. Skyy’s stomach was still flat beneath his clothes, and logically Chen knew their conversation last night hadn’t made the possibility any more certain.

Still, his eyes lingered there.

A baby.

Maybe.

The thought made something warm move through his chest again.

Chen carefully slipped out from beneath Skyy’s arm and got up. They needed to leave early if they wanted to cover enough distance before nightfall. After checking outside and finding the area quiet, he came back in and woke the others.

Lili was predictably the hardest.

She curled deeper beneath the blanket when Skyy tried to coax her awake, eventually forcing Chen to pull the blanket away completely.

Lili stared at him with sleepy betrayal.

"We have to go."

"Five minutes."

Chen paused.

That sounded suspiciously familiar.

His eyes shifted toward Skyy.

Skyy immediately looked away.

"You’re teaching her bad habits."

"I didn’t teach her that."

"You’ve said exactly the same thing to me."

Lili used their distraction to curl into a ball.

Chen sighed and picked her up blanket and all.

That finally woke her.

By the time they packed their things, the sky outside had brightened considerably. Chen opened one of the supply bags Fan Xui had prepared and pulled out several sealed packages of dried jerky.

"Breakfast."

Lili accepted hers immediately.

Skyy reached for another packet, tore it open and lifted a piece toward his mouth.

Then he stopped.

His expression changed.

Chen noticed immediately.

"What?"

Skyy didn’t answer.

He stared at the jerky.

Then his face went pale.

He dropped the packet and clapped a hand over his mouth.

Chen barely had time to move before Skyy scrambled to his feet and rushed toward the far corner of the room.

"Skyy?"

Skyy bent over and vomited.

Chen was beside him almost immediately, one hand catching his shoulder while the other pulled his hair away from his face.

"Hey. Easy."

Skyy coughed and spat, breathing shakily through his mouth.

Chen’s mind immediately began running through everything they’d eaten, the water they’d drunk, whether Skyy could have picked up an infection somewhere—

Then he remembered last night.

His thoughts stopped.

Skyy slowly straightened.

Their eyes met.

Neither said anything.

Skyy’s hand moved toward his stomach.

A tiny smile appeared on his exhausted face.

"I guess there really might be someone in there."

Chen stared at him.

The words sent a ridiculous surge of happiness through him before common sense caught up.

"You threw up once."

"I know."

"That doesn’t mean you’re pregnant."

"I know."

"You could be sick."

Skyy’s smile faded.

Chen immediately regretted saying it like that.

"No. Wait. That’s not what I meant."

Skyy laughed softly.

Chen narrowed his eyes.

"You’re enjoying this."

"A little."

Chen sighed, but his gaze had already fallen toward Skyy’s stomach.

He couldn’t help himself.

His hand moved there almost instinctively.

Skyy allowed him to place his palm against his belly, watching Chen with obvious amusement.

Chen rubbed it gently.

"So you don’t like meat?"

Skyy laughed.

"Chen."

"What? I’m asking."

"You’re talking to my stomach."

"Maybe the kid has opinions."

"We don’t even know if there’s a kid."

"You started it."

Skyy smiled and rested his hand over Chen’s.

There was so much quiet happiness in his expression that Chen felt his own chest tighten.

He wanted it to be true.

He hadn’t been ready to admit that yesterday. The possibility had frightened him at first because it added another vulnerable person to an already dangerous world. But somewhere between holding Skyy last night and waking beside him this morning, fear had become something else.

Hope.

Chen leaned forward and kissed his forehead.

"No jerky for you."

Skyy gave him an unimpressed look.

"I gathered that."

Fortunately, Fan Xui had packed crackers and several other dry rations. Skyy managed those without trouble, although Chen watched him so closely while he ate that Skyy eventually pushed his face away with one hand.

"Stop staring at me."

"I’m not."

"You are."

Chen looked toward Lili instead.

The little girl was chewing jerky while watching both of them with considerable interest.

Chen decided it was time to leave.

They returned to the highway shortly after sunrise.

The first few hours passed quietly. Skyy didn’t become nauseous again, although Chen still checked on him far more frequently than necessary. By midday, the road curved around a heavily wooded hillside.

That was where they found the convoy.

Chen saw the first vehicle through the trees.

A bus lay on its side near the road, its windows shattered and its metal frame blackened by fire. Beyond it stood two abandoned military trucks and several civilian vehicles packed tightly together.

Chen stopped walking.

Lili nearly bumped into him.

"What is it?"

He didn’t answer immediately.

There were bodies.

Some were clearly infected, their remains scattered across the road. Others had been human.

Skyy instinctively reached for Lili.

Chen studied the scene before moving forward.

"Stay behind me."

The convoy had been attacked a long time ago. There was no smell of fresh decay, no movement among the wreckage. Whatever had happened here was years in the past.

Lili’s earlier excitement disappeared completely.

"Were these the people going to Haicheng?"

Chen couldn’t lie to her.

"Probably."

She gripped Skyy’s hand.

They searched carefully.

Chen checked vehicles while Skyy kept Lili close. Bags and belongings were scattered everywhere. Several suitcases had been ripped open, their contents long since ruined by rain. There were children’s shoes, old identification cards, empty ammunition boxes and faded evacuation tags.

Then Chen found the tracks.

He crouched near the edge of the road.

The ground had changed over the years, but signs remained. Branches had been cut rather than broken naturally. Rusted food tins lay deeper between the trees. Someone had tied an old strip of reflective material around a trunk.

A trail marker.

Chen followed it several meters.

There were more.

People had escaped the convoy.

He returned to the road.

"Some survivors made it into the forest."

Lili looked up sharply.

"My parents?"

"I don’t know."

Hope appeared in her eyes anyway.

Chen hated having to temper it.

"There were a lot of people here, Lili. We don’t know who escaped."

The hope faded just as quickly.

Lili looked toward the ruined bus.

She didn’t cry loudly.

That somehow made it worse.

Her mouth tightened, and she lowered her head as tears quietly rolled down her cheeks. She wiped them away quickly with the heel of her hand, clearly trying not to let either of them see.

Skyy crouched beside her.

Lili whispered, "I thought we’d find them."

"We haven’t finished looking."

"But what if they’re there?"

Her eyes drifted toward the bodies.

Skyy couldn’t answer.

Lili swallowed hard.

She looked frighteningly small standing among the wreckage.

After a moment, she straightened her shoulders.

"I can keep going."

Chen watched her.

Yesterday she’d told him that if her parents were gone, then it was fate. She’d sounded almost impossibly mature saying it, but Chen understood now that maturity didn’t mean she wasn’t frightened.

She was simply trying very hard to be brave.

Chen looked toward the forest.

Searching it could take days.

The sensible thing would be to continue toward Haicheng. If her parents had survived, perhaps they’d eventually reached the city.

But if they’d escaped into these woods injured, or joined another group...

Chen exhaled.

"Three days."

Skyy looked at him.

Lili did too.

"We’ll follow the trail and search for three days," Chen said. "If we find signs your parents went farther toward Haicheng, we’ll follow them. If we find nothing, we go back to the road and continue to the city."

Lili stared at him.

"Really?"

Chen nodded.

Her face crumpled again, but this time she rushed forward and wrapped both arms around his waist.

Chen rested his hand on her head.

"Don’t thank me yet."

Lili nodded against him.

Skyy stood nearby, his eyes suspiciously wet.

Chen looked at him.

"Don’t you start too."

Skyy smiled and wiped quickly beneath one eye.

Chen sighed.

One possibly pregnant boyfriend and one determined little girl.

He was beginning to understand that his life was never going to be simple again.

He looked toward the dark line of trees where the survivors’ trail disappeared.

"Come on. We should get moving while there’s still daylight."

Lili released him and took Skyy’s hand.

Together, the three of them left the ruined convoy behind and entered the forest.