Foamers (18 page)

Grace, who was leaning against the wall by the door, looked from Ashton to Kade.
Kade recognized she was reading his reaction, which led him to piece together what
was happening. Ashton wasn’t just thanking X; she was in love. He had trusted X to
take care of her, not to corrupt her. He felt his blood boil as his hand tugged against
the handcuff.

“X,” he said, and X retracted his arms from Ashton as if he’d been burned by a hot
stove. Kade could tell from the look on his face he was afraid. “Will you undo my
handcuff, please.”

“Sure thing, Kade.” X’s black eyes settled on Kade’s with a simple understanding.

Ashton stood and placed her hands on her hips. “Tiny’s going to be pissed at you.”

“I’m more afraid of Kade right now,” X replied.

Ashton’s face went white as X slid his key into the lock.

“Kade, I made all the moves,” she spouted out.

Grace wrapped her arms around Ashton and pulled her toward the door. “You’re not
helping yourself.”

“Don’t let him out of there. He’s going to kill you!” Ashton shouted.

“Do you care about her?” Kade asked.

X nodded as he freed Kade’s hand.

“Do you love her?” Kade asked, standing up. X backed one step away from him, his
eyes never breaking contact with Kade’s.

“Kade, it was my fault!” Ashton yelled.

Kade pointed a finger at her without looking. His blood boiled within his veins as
he processed, hurt, worry, and rage all at once. He had trusted X, and he needed
answers. Ashton was no weaker than Tiny, and he had known her to go after the things
she wanted with a ferocious tenacity. X wouldn’t have crossed their friendship for
something as simple as a lay, but Kade still needed to know how deep X’s feelings
were for his little sister.

“Do you love her?” Kade repeated.

X’s black eyes met Ashton’s watery gaze. That’s when Kade realized X hadn’t told
Ashton. Recognizing that, he almost felt bad—almost. X faced Kade, then stared at
his own feet.

“Yes.”

Before the word was completely out of his mouth, Kade sucker punched X. The impact
spun X like a carousel and he caught himself on the bed.

“Kade!” Ashton shouted as Kade shook out his knuckles.

Grace held tight as Ashton struggled to escape “They’re boys; let them talk it out.”

Kade felt all of his anger dissipate as X pushed himself off of the bed while holding
one hand over his eye.

“Square?”

Kade nodded and they moved toward each other, embracing in a quick hug that was
finalized by one slap on the back.

“Hurt her and that’s just a taste of what I’ll do to you.”

“I promised you I’d keep her safe, didn’t I?”

Kade smiled back. “Congrats.”

Grace released Ash, who darted across the room and slapped her brother across the
face, ringing his ears. X locked her in his arms.

“That wasn’t necessary,” X said, holding her away from her brother. “We talked it
out.”

“Don’t get me started, lover boy. I’ll whomp you next. Hell of a way to tell me you
love me,” Ashton said.

Kade felt a swell of emotion rise within him. His oldest friend and his little sister;
in the Old World, people would have frowned upon such a pairing, but here in the
Primal Age, he couldn’t think of a better match.

* * *

Victoria stood in front of the mirror, wrapped in only a sheet. She could see the
bruises forming on her shoulders and neck. She hadn’t been unwilling when Sarge took
her to his cot, but she didn’t realize what she was in for. Damian had never been
rough with her like that, and the experience had terrified her.

She’d had partners before Damian, but none of them had been so physical with her,
either. Now her whole body hurt, and she felt used. She had always felt like a partner
with Damian, but not here. Not this time.

This new experience made her question if leaving the group had been the right choice
even more than before. One day, Damian would arrive at Houghton, but Victoria had
let her pride drive her away from the last semblance of family she knew.

There was once a time, only once, where Kade and she had bonded. It was after she
had slept with Damian for the first time. She knew it was his first time, and completely
understood that he couldn’t even legally have slept with people for most of his
academic career. What she didn’t know was that he thought it was also her first time.

Damian had brought her home to the family for Christmas. Kade had accidentally found
her in the bathroom in a similar pose as she was in now, standing before the mirror.
Kade began to walk away, but that overriding need of his to take care of those around
him kicked in, and he asked her what was wrong.

Once she explained the situation, he laughed, which sent her storming out. He stopped
her at the door and explained that he wasn’t making fun of her, but that the situation
was an easy fix. It was one of the most interesting conversations she had ever had:

“Just don’t tell him the truth,” Kade said.

“I can’t lie to him,” she replied, knowing she couldn’t do that to the man she loved.

Kade shook his head. “I didn’t say lie. Just don’t tell him the truth.”

“Aren’t those one and the same?”

“You scientists, wanting to make everything black and white. Has he asked you if
it was your first time?”

“No.”

“Then don’t correct him.”

“What if he asks me?”

Kade paused, and that was the first time she saw Damian’s mind at work in Kade’s
gray eyes. “Assuming you don’t want to deal with him being all mopey, then I’d suggest
learning to sell bullshit. Like,
Yes, that was my first time
, and leave off the
back half of,
with someone I truly love
. The trick to selling it is relaxing the
muscles in your face so they don’t give you away with natural ticks, and to punctuate
it with a smile and a starry-eyed look like you are reliving the experience.”

“Shouldn’t I just tell him the truth?”

“Probably, but sometimes it’s better to let people have their illusions than to crush
them. I believe in doing the right thing, which doesn’t always mean being totally
honest.”

When Kade left her, she practiced his technique to the mirror for close to fifteen
minutes before she returned to Damian. To this day, Damian still thought he was
her first.

Victoria stopped looking at her fresh bruises and stared into her own eyes in the
mirror. She and Sarge had spent most of the last two days recruiting people to join
them for the assault on Houghton College. They had about twenty people in total,
most of them former soldiers, but a few were blood lusting men who were enjoying
the end of the world too much for her taste. Before this, she thought there might
be a chance to talk sense into Kade and strike a treaty between him and the Tribe.
After seeing recruits, she knew there was no way this would end peacefully. She didn’t
want them to kill Kade.

So she spent a good deal of time weaving half-truths to try and give Kade the best
chance she could. Sarge didn’t know what Huntington’s was, exactly, so Victoria had
spun it as Kade was mentally inept under pressure and he would fall into tremors
under stress. She told Sarge Tiny was a weak woman who had messed her leg up so badly,
she couldn’t even run. Mick was nothing more than a fat cop going through do-nut
withdrawal, and Grace was a whiny little brat.

Sarge and his boys seemed to take to the idea and stopped recruiting. The more men
they brought along, the more ways they’d have to split their spoils. Twenty men still
seemed like too many for Kade to handle, but at least Victoria had nipped it there.
She had to give him the best chance she could. She owed her life to Kade—like it
or not, that was the fact. Without him, she would be dead, or worse.

There was no way she could stop the Tribe, but she could impede them.

* * *

Kade rubbed his bare wrists. He had hated the feel of metal against them and was
glad to be out of the cuffs. It had been three days since X had released him, and
he hoped he could go the rest of his life without being chained again. X had yet
to turn into a foamer, and with each passing day, Kade felt more convinced that X
was safe. At the same time, he wasn’t about to let his guard down.

He sat with X on the roof of Lambian in the predawn morning. Even in the Primal Age,
Kade found the sky just before dawn to be the most beautiful. The normalcy of the
sky was a nice touch, a reminder to him that the universe would go on without him
or humanity. Today, though, he was worried for his friends still at the hospital;
they were going on their fourth day of separation. The two groups checked in twice
a day—once in the morning, once in the evening—just to make sure everything was okay.

From what Kade could gather, the other group was fine. Bored, but fine. His group
was far from bored. With only four of them, they rarely had a break. With the constant
snow, they were limited in what they could do outside of the dorm, but there was
still plenty to keep them busy organizing and unpacking. It wasn’t Kade’s favorite
job, but it was still work that needed to be done.

X packed a snowball and let it fall all the way to the ground below. He brushed off
his gloved hands and pulled his coat tight.

“Remember when we looked forward to winter? Snow days and sledding,” X said, tucking
his hands under his armpits.

“Can’t say I miss it,” Kade replied.

X laughed. “Me either. There’s a lot about this world I like.”

“Does that mean we can sign you up for a long stay in Hotel Primal Age?”

“If that means you’ll fluff my pillow and leave a mint, you can sign me up for an
extended visit.”

“At least this business with Ashton had a positive outcome. You aren’t just going
to cut and run like I figured.”

“You mean besides me hooking up with your little sister, right?”

Kade spun, facing X, and pointed a finger at him. “Do you really want to get hit
again?”

“We both know in a real fight I’d kick your ass,” X said with a wink.

“Doesn’t mean I wouldn’t get a hit in.”

“You punch like a girl.”

“I’ll put the knuckles on next time.”

“I unpacked boxing gloves today. You just say when you want to go a few rounds,”
X said with a sneer.

Before Kade could return a counter joust, the door opened and Ashton emerged, sleepy-eyed.

“I’ll take sunrise. Why don’t you boys catch a quick hour?” she said.

X and Kade made their way to the door.

“You just name the time and place,” Kade said.

“Anytime, anywhere,” X replied.

The two of them passed into the stairwell.

“You know I’ll fight to the death.”

“I will break you.”

Ash shook her head as the guys were at the point she could only hear their muffled
banter.

* * *

Tiny lay across the waiting room benches, her head dangling over the end so she had
an upside-down view of the outside world. The snow had piled over a foot. She could
feel the damage in her leg with every slight drop in the air pressure. The wind howled
outside as it picked up snow, keeping the air looking like a solid white sheet.

The
twang
of John’s bowstring cut through the air as his arrow thunked into his makeshift
target. After four days, they were all struggling with boredom, and John’s solution
had been to stack mattresses against the wall at the end of the hallway so he could
practice his long shots with the bow. Tiny was impressed with how hard he was trying
to make himself feel worthy of the cohort. She didn’t have the heart to tell him
they didn’t have enough people for try-outs; besides, she liked seeing his Primal
side.

John came into the waiting room, sliding his arrows back into his quiver as he paused
in front of the vending machine. He punched in a number, then shook his head and
laughed at himself.

“I keep forgetting,” he said, and reached through the broken front plate of the
vending machine to pull out a something to eat. “Last Snickers.”

“It’s all yours,” Tiny replied, remaining in her bat-like position.

“All I’ve seen you eat in three days is Snickers. We can split it.”

Tiny sat up and crossed her legs on the seat, but immediately had to straighten
her injured leg. She bit down on the inside of her lip as she pressed her hands around
her damaged knee.

John took a seat beside her and opened the candy. “What happened to your leg?”

“That’s a story for another day,” she replied as she spun to face John. The memories
of war were something she was happy keeping packed.

He snapped the Snickers in half and held both parts up to her. “I’ll try again tomorrow,
then. I broke it, you pick.”

Tiny took the larger of the two halves. “You know, if you don’t stop being such a
good guy, I am going to be sad when you die.”

“I hope it’s a long time until you’re sad.”

They finished their chocolate in silence, then Tiny said, “You know, you guys will
have to leave soon.”

“Soon as the snow stops, we’ll head back.”

“We’re running out of food. You guys will have to go on foot, with or without me.”

“Kade would throw me out if I came back without you, and I’m trying too hard to fit
in to let that happen. Besides, I can’t leave you.”

“Fine. Do you know where Mick is?”

“Haven’t seen him today.”

Tiny left John in the waiting room and limped down the corridor, searching for signs
of Mick. She made it all the way to the end of the hallway before she heard him in
one of the rooms. She pushed the door open and stood silently, watching him.

Mick wore a doctor’s coat and had a stethoscope around his neck. In his hands, he
rubbed two AED paddles together.

“Clear,” he said, and applied the paddles to an imaginary patient.

“Mick?” Tiny asked.

He paused, set down the paddles, removed the stethoscope, placed the jacket on the
bed, and then turned around.