Frenzy (The Frenzy Series Book 1) (16 page)

Tage approached with a cocky grin and Mary moved to stand beside me. “Looks like it’s you and me, sweetheart.” Mary tried to smile but it faltered, weighed down by the apprehension covering us all.

“Yep.”

Tage threw two large duffle bags at us. “Tonight we’ll pillage and plunder.” A slow smile spread over his face, sending a shiver up my spine. “There is a cache of oil lanterns just inside the city. We’ll have to stop for those.”

Mary whispered, “I have a bad feeling about this.”

“The city?”

“Not just the city, but what’s in it,” she whispered.

“The Infected,” I mouthed more than spoke.

She motioned toward Tage. “And him.”

On one end of the flood wall, not far from my house—or what
used
to be my house—was a steel ladder. It was sturdy and tall and led to the top and over the other side into the city below. Mercedes and I had sat atop that wall more times than I could remember. The city inside didn’t look enormous. I’d seen pictures of larger ones in books that Mercedes had hidden in her closet. No doubt Mother burned those, too.

Taller buildings were across town, but close to the wall were homes that looked the same as ours. The only difference was that they had been burned. Houses of brick and stone still stood, though they were gutted. Most of the others were gone; charred bones of rotting wooden spires delicately balanced on concrete slabs. Mary climbed up the ladder and I followed her. Tage climbed behind me.

When we descended and stepped onto the ground again, Tage dropped down beside us with a thud. “Let’s see what we can find, ladies.” He’d cut his dark hair short, making his blue eyes more visible. It didn’t make me feel better. Those icy orbs took in far more than they ever revealed.

Tage led us into the city, where the only sounds were the soles of our boots slapping against the concrete street. The light of day was fading into purple and orange. We would need those lanterns soon.

Mary tugged her bag onto her shoulder. “What are we looking for, and how are we going to find it here?” I was thinking the same thing. It looked like everything was already burned out.

Tage smiled at us as if we were children. “Some of the taller buildings didn’t burn all the way. The top floors are preserved, and there are some stores with things we can loot, too.”

“You don’t have to be so condescending,” Mary grumbled.

“Yes I do,” he tossed over his shoulder, never slowing his stride, and we had to jog to keep up with him.

Houses turned into townhomes, townhomes into apartment buildings, and with each block, the buildings grew taller. The glass that surrounded the facades was broken and soot-covered. The scent of burned wood still lingered, even after all of these years. Weeds and vines were growing in between sidewalk slabs and creeping up the walls of some of the buildings. The city truly was a different forest. Nature was reclaiming what was hers. Small animals scurried in alleyways and inside the remnants of buildings. It was their underbrush.

We jogged until my breath came out in puffs. I had to slow down. Clasping my left side, I asked, “Are we almost there?”

Tage pouted. “Having trouble, kitten?” I didn’t dignify his comment with a response. “I can give you a piggyback ride? Now that you’re not wearing that hideous dress,” he said, eyeballing Mary for a second, who scowled at him, “you can do
so
much more.” Tage licked his lips lasciviously.

“Could you either just not speak to me, or not call me kitten when you do?” I asked him. With a chuckle, he led us to an old shed in the back yard of a nearby home. In the shed, as he promised, were lanterns and small containers of oil.

We quickly filled them and continued into the city in silence. Sometimes silence was a magnificent thing, especially when Tage was involved. I was wondering where Roman was and how he was watching us without Tage knowing, and in my reverie, I didn’t see Tage stop until I bumped into his back. “Let’s go in here.”

The building beside us was at least ten stories tall—a concrete shell. While the bottom three or four stories were burned, the top floors still looked okay. I just hoped the bottom levels would support the top ones long enough for us to get the hell out of there.

Stepping inside the building was easy; we just stepped wide into what used to be a window, our feet crunching on shards of sooty glass and leaves. Mary looked at me as I held my hand out for her. I clutched my crossbow tightly. It was awfully heavy to have to carry this far, but Saul was right. I needed it.

He’d been in the city before and said that although he never saw the Infected inside, they definitely had access to it. “Are there Infected here?” I asked Tage.

“Some small pockets, according to Roman, but I’ve never seen any.”

His eyes found my hand and narrowed. “Where’s your ring?” he growled.

I held my hand up and my heart dropped. “I took it off earlier. I must have forgotten to put it back on.” Oh, my God. Oh, my God. I was going to die if they caught me. I would be like Mercedes. I would rot.

“Roman usually makes sure, but with the treaty and all of this bullshit going on, he must have forgotten.” Tage shook his head. “You’ve got yours?” he asked Mary. She nodded.

“You stay close,” he ordered me.

“I’m fine. I’m sure we’ll be fine.”

“What’d I say? Roman will rip my head off if something happens to you.”

“To either of us,” I challenged, following him into the darkness.

“Bingo!” Tage said, pointing to a door that was hanging askew. “Stairwell,” he said as if it explained his bizarre personality. “And he probably wouldn’t kill me over Mrs. Mary.
You’re
his favorite.”

“That’s ridiculous.”

Tage snorted. “You have no idea, do you?”

I climbed step after step, crossed landing after landing. Tage never tired, but Mary and I collapsed at the top of the eleventh floor. The building was taller than I’d estimated from the ground. “You both need to work on your physical fitness,” Tage teased. “We’ll look on this floor. I’d hate to see the old lady keel over.”

He opened a door that led to a long hallway, lined with doors on either side. Mary huffed beside me. “If I weren’t so out of breath, I’d kick him.”

I smiled and nodded, sucking in oxygen. “Ready?”

“Ready.”

The first door we came to was unlocked, and it looked like someone had already ransacked the place. Furniture was overturned. Curtains and blinds were torn down. Cobwebs covered absolutely everything, a delicate lace. “What happened here?” I whispered to Mary. Tage was rifling around in the kitchen.

“I don’t know.”

“What are we supposed to look for?” Overwhelmed was an understatement.

“The Colony needs metal, but beyond that, maybe books, tools? Look for anything that could be helpful. Come on.” She tugged me further into the room.

I didn’t find much; a few screwdrivers, a hammer and some nails, some coins. There was a leather bag in the corner with a long strap, so I emptied the papers out of it and threw it over my shoulder. There were men’s dress shirts in the closet. “Clothes?” I yelled.

“Leave them unless
you
want them,” Tage answered. “You need them,” he said, lowering his voice but saying it loud enough that I could still hear him. The entire room smelled awful. It wasn’t mold or the stench of the smoke from the floors below, it was a pungent musk that permeated everything. The windows of the rooms had exploded and the elements had been working on this place for a long time. Birds built nests on lamps and on the upturned furniture. There were droppings everywhere we stepped.

Mary was rifling through a closet in the next room. “I’m going across the hall.”

She stood up and looked at me. “Be careful.” Her eyes flicked in Tage’s direction and my hand tightened reflexively on my crossbow.

“I will.”

I didn’t bother to tell Tage where I was going, though I knew he could hear me leave. The hallway was cloaked in shadow. I tried to imagine the luminescence of the lights that ran in large rectangles across the ceiling, but couldn’t picture electricity. Would it hurt your eyes? I shouldered the door across the hall open. It wasn’t in disarray, but dust and cobwebs had taken over. The windows in this place weren’t broken.

Holding the lantern up, I saw a couch in a colorful red floral, matching arm chairs, and an end table that still held drinking glasses on it. The kitchen cabinets were shut. If I didn’t know better, if the layers of dust weren’t there, I’d think someone just stepped out and would be coming back home any minute. That almost made it worse.

The hallway walls were lined with pictures, so I swiped the dusty glass surfaces in order to see them more clearly. Two children, a young girl and her older brother, it looked like. They were smiling, looking up from a crystal-blue pool of water. I’d never seen water so blue. The image was so clear, you could see tiny water droplets separating their eyelashes.

Another picture, another swipe. This time the children were posed on chairs with their parents behind them. They had their mother’s golden hair and their father’s strong nose. The first room I found was the washroom. I could imagine the running water in the sink. One knob had an H and the other a C. Hot and Cold.
Hot water
.

I remembered Mary saying there was a shower indoors and a cabinet behind the mirrors.
Check the cabinets
. I eased one side open and inside were assorted brushes, bottles, and tubes. One label said “Parfum.” I squeezed it and sprayed my face with the most foul-tasting liquid I’d ever tasted. I raked my tongue over the end of my shirt to get rid of the flavor. Yuck.

When the shock of the taste wore off, I realized how nice I smelled. I decided I liked Parfum, so I slipped it in my bag’s outer pocket where it was least likely to get crushed. The razors were rusted, but there were a few bars of soap in boxes, so I grabbed them. Soap didn’t expire. By-passing the children’s room, I made my way to the back of the apartment. A large rectangular bed rested against the wall, and chests of drawers were on either side. The tallest chest held men’s clothes. I grabbed the plain undershirts. Someone might be able to use those. The other dresser held women’s clothes and undergarments. They looked like they might fit me, so I stuffed bras and panties into my bag as quickly as possible. They were lacy and delicate, like nothing I’d ever seen before.

“That’s better,” Tage said, making me jump out of my skin. “You’ll look amazing in those.”

I swallowed. “Where’s Mary?”

“She’s in the other apartment.”

“Why did you leave her there?”

“Why did you take off without telling me where you were going?” he countered.

“Do I
have
to check in with you?”

He chuckled. “I’m responsible for you. You were stupid enough to forget your ring at home, so it would be in your best interest to let your guard know where you’re going.”

“I think we need a new guard.”

Tage laughed, throwing his head back. “You have no idea how right you are. Do you know that your blood tastes sweet? Sweeter than anything I’ve ever had.”

“Why would that be? I don’t eat sugar.”

His eyes narrowed. “I have no idea why you taste so good. I almost fought Roman for you. He let me choose you, and then took my choice away.”