Page 36 of What Remains

She gestured toward the cluster of sleeping bags spread across the back of the SUV.

Josie’s arms tightened around Layla “I—I don’t want to let go of her,” she whispered, tears tracing clean paths through the dust on her cheeks. “It feels like if I blink, something else will try to take her from me.”

Cara moved closer,“She’s exhausted. She’ll sleep better lying down. You’ll be right next to her the whole time.”

Josie’s breath hitched. She looked down at Layla—her whole world curled against her, thumb near her mouth, tiny brows still creased from crying even in sleep. After a long moment, she nodded, allowing Cara to guide her toward the makeshift bed.

She knelt, lowering the little girl into the blanket’s warmth with the care of someone handling something impossibly fragile. Layla didn’t stir.

But Josie broke.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, her voice collapsing. “I don’t usually fall apart like this. I just—God—he kept—” The words tangled and died. “He kept saying he’d hurt her. That if I didn’t do what he wanted—if I didn’t cooperate—he’d make her watch.”

Cara sat beside her, their knees touching gently. She met Josie’s gaze. “You’re safe now. And so is she.”

Josie pressed both hands against her face, tears slipping through her fingers, her body shaking with everything she’d held back for hours. “I thought—” Her breath shuddered out. “I thought that was it. That he’d take everything I had left. I kept thinking about her little voice, her smile, the way she says ‘goodnight’ to that stupid teddy bear every single night—and I—” She choked on the words. “I couldn’t let him take that. I couldn’t let him take her.”

Cara wrapped an arm around her shoulders, hesitant at first—comfort had never come naturally to her, never been something she’d grown up learning to give—but instinct overrode the awkwardness, and she pulled her closer.

“You didn’t let him,” she said. “You fought. And Seth… Seth made sure it ended.”

Josie covered her mouth. “I didn’t even thank him,” she whispered. “He saved my life. He saved her life.”

“He knows you’re grateful,” Cara said. “And you’ll get the chance to tell him when you’re ready.”

Josie wiped at her eyes, her breath still catching in ragged pulls. “I just… I just wanted to get to Denver,” she whispered. “To see if my parents were still… I never imagined someone would…” She swallowed hard, the words failing her. “The sick… at least you can run from them. You know what they are. But him… he was just a man.”

Cara squeezed her shoulder, grounding her against the tremors still running through her frame.

“Tonight was hell,” she said. “But you’re not alone anymore. We’re heading to Denver, and you can stick with us as long as you need. We’ll keep you and Layla safe.”

Josie’s gaze, raw and red-rimmed, fixed on her; Months of surviving alone had stripped away every layer of self-protection she had built.

“You mean that?”

Cara nodded once, steady and certain. “I do.”

Chapter 8

Unexpected Kindness

Even after the tears had stopped and Layla was settled beneath a blanket, Josie’s fingers still trembled as she touched her daughter’s face.

Cara exchanged a quiet look with Jay. They didn’t need to voice it—leaving this woman and her child to sleep alone after everything that had just happened was not an option.

“I’ll take the other SUV tonight,” Jay said, gesturing to Beast. “There’s more space for you three in here.”

Josie blinked, stunned by the offer from a stranger. “Are you sure? I don’t want to impose.”

“You’re not,” Cara assured her, placing a hand on her shoulder. “Layla needs you close, and you need to feel safe. Tonight, we’ll make that happen.”

Cara climbed into the back, joining Josie beside her sleeping daughter. Exhaustion had settled deep in Josie’s mucels—the kind born of fear, adrenaline, and too many days surviving on empty. Cara gently spread the quilt over mother and child.

“You sleep,” she whispered. “I’ll be right here keeping watch.”

Josie’s eyes welled up again, but this time the tears were not from panic. They came from a relief . “Thank you. I... I thought all the decent people were gone.”

Cara’s expression softened. “There are still good people out here. Well we try to be, anyway.”