Read Until the End of the World (Book 3): All the Stars in the Sky for Free Online Page B

idea, but I can’t shake the feeling that I have cooties.
    “Remember when we washed up in the stream at that campground in Jersey?” Penny asks.
    I spin around. Her face is puffy with pregnancy and grief, but her brown eyes are bright. “You even washed your hair,” I say. “Want to come in?”
    “No freaking way. I’m cleaner than you, anyway. Ha.”
    We wouldn’t let her help with cleanup, and she didn’t sweat her way through hundreds of Lexers two days ago. That baby is making it to Alaska. She laughs at my attempt to wash my armpits while not getting wet. I give up once my arms are clean and splash her as I walk out.
    “ Coño !” she yells, and wipes the droplets off her face. “But I’m still cleaner.”
    “Well, at least I don’t have to squeeze the equivalent of an eight-pound ham out of my nether regions in the next few months.”
    She throws back her head, her laugh mixing with the calls of the birds above, and her eyes are moist when she flings my towel at me. “You win.”

CHAPTER 9
    The pickup pulls over near Winnipeg, where we’ve planned to stop for the night before venturing into the city for fuel tomorrow morning. Zeke steps out and points to a thin stream of smoke rising from a group of trees to the west. No house is visible, but two silos sit at the edge of the overgrown farmland. “Looks like people. We’ll have to pass, so let’s be on our guard.”
    “Should we stop?” Nelly asks.
    Mark taps his chin. “Most people I met on the way to Vermont were sociable, if somewhat desperate. It could be helpful to get some details about Winnipeg.”
    “I’m not so sure,” Zeke says. “They might not want to share details, seeing as how we plan to take what they might think of as their gas.”
    “Winnipeg was a city of 600,000,” Mark says. “Getting gas while staying alive is going to be difficult. A little insider knowledge might prove useful.”
    Zeke points to Kyle, Shawn, Peter and Nelly. “Okay, we’ll drive the pickup behind the RV. If they look friendly, we’ll circle back while the RV waits up ahead.”
    “Maybe I should go in the pickup,” Jamie says. “I don’t know—me, Mark, Margaret and Cassie? They’re much less likely to feel threatened by women than men.”
    I take in Zeke, who’s a teddy bear but looks threatening if you don’t know him. The others are no better. A bunch of grubby guys are bound to set off anyone’s alarms. I don’t love the idea of being shot at, to put it mildly, but it’s a better plan—I know I’d be more frightened of a truck full of men than women.
    “Okay,” I say. Peter shakes his head. I shrug and wait for him to offer a better idea, but he only tightens his mouth.
    “Sure,” Margaret says. She’s in her early forties, lean and ropy, and always wears a low ponytail, the ends still dyed auburn. Her face has settled into lines that make me think she hasn’t had an easy life; she doesn’t talk about life before Bornavirus enough for me to know for sure. In fact, she barely speaks. She’s the kind of lady you know at a moment’s glance not to fuck with, but she gives off a live-and-let-live vibe that keeps her from being scary. Perfect for meeting new friends—or enemies.
    “Right, they won’t shoot at women, they’ll just ra—” Nelly stops at Peter’s head tilt toward the kids.
    “This is the biggest city we’ve been to in the past year,” Jamie says. “It’s huge. We need some help.” She quiets Shawn’s protest with a scowl. “We’ll be in a truck. We’ll be out of there before anything happens.”
    “No.” Peter shakes his head like he’s the final decision maker. I may not want to do this, but to be told I can’t is irritating. “We’ll figure it out ourselves.”
    Zeke nods like it’s been settled. It was his plan to begin with, but because they don’t want the womenfolk to go, it’s off the table. I understand their concern, even if I do find it a bit surprising. Chivalry hasn’t