Canary by Tijan
Raize
We stayed in West Virginia for four more months.
I hated it. Mostly.
I wanted to be traveling, working. I’d gotten used to the constant go, but this staying, waiting, it had its benefits, too.
Ash laughed more.
She relaxed.
She ate more.
Cavers took Gus on daily walks. Sometimes Ash went with him. Sometimes she played with Gus in the backyard. She liked to spend time watching the creek. A lot of time.
I think she’d started meditating down there, but I never asked.
Jake was in charge of going into town, getting food for us.
He’d also started seeing a local woman, though he thought no one knew. We all knew. He giggled when he was getting laid. We learned that.
Every time Jake came back after seeing his woman, Ash and Cavers watched me. I knew Ash was concerned that I would kill the woman. She was a liability because eventually she’d get curious about Jake, want to see where he lived, what he did for a living. Cavers just watched me to see if he needed to help in any way.
But I’d followed Jake.
I’d bugged the woman’s house, put a tracker on her vehicle, and was listening on her phone. So far she believed Jake was a traveling salesperson, and she hoped he’d marry her one day—or that’s what she told her sister about him. So far, “Brian” was satisfying her in bed.
I’d have to have a conversation with Jake soon.
I was getting restless.
I wasn’t the only one.
We were all on edge, feeling the end of our time was coming soon.
War was inevitable.
The killing would start again, but Ash, she was changing.
She had changed.
I just wasn’t quite sure how she’d changed. Not yet.
I caught her twisting a lock between her fingers a lot.
She was missing her blonde hair. It had started to return to her dark coloring again.
Then one day my phone rang.
Downer was on the other end. “You need to come back.”
