Hunted (A Sinners Series Book 2) (17 page)

Bruno makes his way to Cole, and Grace joins me.

“Will she be all right?” Grace’s voice is soft.

“I’m not sure. But we gotta find shelter soon, and we can’t risk anyone giving us up,” I whisper in her ear.

“What about her?” Grace whispers back, thumbing her finger at the woman.

“I don’t know. Just look the other way.”

“I’ll block you,” Bruno says. “Hurry up and do it.”

Grace and I turn away as Cole grabs the man around the head and prepares to do away with the threat to our safety. Then we hear the snap.

We turn around to see the boys throw the dead man into a hut. Zeus trots over to us, then sniffs and licks the woman’s face. She opens her eyes. There is only one word to describe what happens next. Terror. The woman scrunches back and away from us. Her scream reminds me of the alarms from earlier. Grace reaches over and covers her mouth with her hand. The woman continues to scream, gurgling through muffled fear. Her eyes are as big as quarters.

She wriggles away from Grace, who plunges forward to catch her. She can’t get away. I dive for her, but she smacks me.

“Please, we aren’t trying to hurt you,” Grace says.

“What’d you do that for?” I raise a hand to my stinging face, regretting trying to help her.

She stops screaming but continues heaving and breathing heavily. “What is that?” she asks in a weak voice.

“He’s a dog. He’s just a very big dog,” I say.

“A dog. Looks like a horse.” She chuckles. Then begins to cough. “I thought he was going to eat me.”

I stifle a laugh, remembering the first time I laid eyes on Zeus. I’m grateful she’s breathing and talking again.

Bruno and Cole arrive at our sides.

“Here, let me carry her,” Bruno says, and he crouches down. “Would it be all right if I carry you to your hut?”

“I’d appreciate that, sir, thank you.”

“Are you okay?” Grace asks him, but he just shakes off her concern.

He gently puts his right arm under the woman’s legs and with his left arm, he cradles her back. He’s gentle, like he would be with a child. Grace is so lucky. He’ll make a great father, if he makes it out of here alive.

“Where’s your hut?” he asks.

“The one with the blue curtains.” She laughs. The laugh is long, hoarse, and full of mucus. Her sense of humor is unnerving.

Looking around, I see the hut she’s referring to. It’s just a few feet away, and I motion for Bruno, Cole, and Grace to follow me.

When we arrive, I grab the thin fabric covering the door, pulling it to the side. It feels as thin as tissue paper. Bruno ducks his head and carries the woman inside. Grace and Cole follow. There’s nothing but a yellow sheet covering the dirt floor, and it has holes everywhere. We barely all fit inside, and suddenly I feel claustrophobic.

“Just put me down on the floor,” she says, a soft, nearly toothless smile lighting up her face. Slowly, Bruno lowers her to the floor, and she moans.

“Are you hurt?” Cole asks. He joins Bruno in helping the woman move.

“I always hurt; I’m in constant pain.” She looks around her home, as if checking to be sure everything is still there.

“Why? What’s wrong?” I ask.

“I wish I knew,” she says.

“If you’re sick, why haven’t they been treating you?” Grace asks.

“Because that costs money, and Wilson stopped all medical treatment, except for the guards, after the revolt. I guess he feels it’s a waste of his precious dollars.”

My stomach gets caught in my throat.

“Do you know how you got sick?” I ask, while bending forward, and all of a sudden, the room’s spinning around me.

“Some say the vaccine we received wasn’t effective. That we didn’t receive it in time, and so the ones who were already exposed have fallen ill.”

“A vaccine for what?”

“The virus,” she says. “A lot of people are getting sick. More and more every day.”

“Have we been exposed?”

“Don’t worry, they said it only spreads through blood.” She rubs her neck, and I feel guilty for being grateful that it was Bruno who carried her and not Cole.

That’s when I notice she’s branded with lust, just like me, and I wonder what she did to get here.
Is she innocent too?

“I’m so sorry,” I say. “I wish we could do something for you.”

“Oh, honey, you already have. You showed me kindness and got my bag back. That’s more than anyone has ever done for me.”

On cue, Cole hands over the bag he took from the man he killed.

“Thank you,” the woman says. She opens it and pulls out a piece of stale, moldy bread and a small vial.

“What is that?” I ask. “In the vial?”

“Our water for the day.”

“That’s all they give you to drink?” Grace asks.

“Yes. Enough to keep us alive.”

We are all silent. I don’t think any of us know what to say.

“Please don’t feel sorry for me,” she says. “Honestly, I don’t want to live anymore, not like this. I know this might sound crazy, but at least dying … will set me free.”

Her words crush my soul.

You can overcome anything short of death,
I tell myself.

“We better go,” Bruno says. “Is there anything you need before we leave?”

“No, I’m fine.” She pauses and looks as if she is about to say something. She smiles and says, “Thank you again.”

“It would really be great if you didn’t tell anyone we were here,” Bruno says in a stern voice.

“Don’t worry. I know how to keep my mouth shut.” The woman winks, and I realize we have no idea what her name is. There’s a part of me that wants to stay with her and comfort her somehow, but I know it’s not possible. It kills me to have to leave her here all alone. But we aren’t here to make friends.

We say our good-byes and make our way out of her hut. We walk in silence, alert but pensive. We take turns searching for a place to settle.

Cole gives me a strange look. Bruno shakes his head and begins pushing into the next hut. Two blankets lie on the ground. There’s no furniture. There’s no water or eating utensils. He moves on.

It’s like a city of huts, tents, and cement blocks. Every avenue is filled with something, whether it’s trash or cement blocks or bodies. There’s no grid of streets, just zigzag alleyways and narrow paths between propped-up shelters. In the darkness, it feels haunted.

I can almost sense the lost souls inhabiting the black pits of every crevice. I glance upward. The moon hangs in the sky with its white body illuminating the corrugated metal roofing of some of the houses. My mouth feels like sandpaper. My body shakes as my adrenaline slows down.

Pretty soon, it’s hard to pick up my feet. My boots weigh them down, and it’s like I’m walking through quicksand. I can barely hold my eyes open. Even Zeus stumbles along beside me. His tongue dangles from his mouth, and his tail droops.

“Let’s stop,” Cole says. Bruno turns around. In the pale light, his usually smooth skin looks wrinkled and tired. “I think we’re in far enough, and I’m about to fall over.”

Bruno’s broad shoulders disappear into a hut and then he re-emerges. “Found a vacant one,” he says.

Zeus sniffs the cloth of the curtain before taking off into our temporary new home. Inside, I hear him sneeze twice. No, three times.

“So much for subtlety,” Cole mutters under his breath.

The others enter the tiny, rundown shack before I do. I get halfway through the door when the familiar scent of decaying flesh hits me. Nausea creeps up my insides as I look around. A thin, dirt-streaked blanket lies on the floor to my right. An empty metal bowl sits on top of a crudely made stand behind it. Zeus’s tail whips past it, and it topples sideways. Next thing, I’m scrambling to catch it so it doesn’t clatter to the ground. The bowl lands perfectly in my hands, but unfortunately, I can’t keep my balance, and I stumble and fall forward with a whoosh.

“Nice save,” Cole says quietly. He takes the bowl from my hands and helps me up.

“Do you think that woman has the same thing Alyssa had?” I wipe the sweat off the back of my neck and then wipe my hands on my pants.

“Doubtful,” Bruno says.

“Then what’s killing her?”

“Could be a million different things. You heard her … Sinners no longer get medical care.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” I say with sadness.

“I’m always right, Miss Lexi,” Bruno says with an exaggerated bow.

“Oh please,” Grace says, giving Bruno a look of annoyance. “Does anyone have water?”

“Not me; my pack’s gone,” I say.

“I’ve got a little left,” Bruno says, holding out a bottle. “I guess I’ll share it with you.” He winks at Grace, who takes it from him. Her hands are so small compared to his.

“Glad to see chivalry isn’t dead,” she says. She glances at the bottle and shakes it, raising an eyebrow. “There’s not a lot left. Are you sure? You need your strength too.”

“You know me, I can go for days,” he says.

“Oh, Lord,” I say. “TMI.”

Grace laughs and raises the bottle to her lips, allowing the water to pass over them. She lowers it and holds it out for Bruno. “Take the rest.”

“Did you get enough?” His eyebrows stretch up to his hairline.

“Just take it,” she says in a firm voice.

He drinks the rest of the water. Then he tosses the bottle and plants a huge kiss on Grace’s mouth unexpectedly.

“You always take good care of me; that’s why I love you, woman,” he says. His bear hug lifts her slightly off the ground before he lets her toes touch back down.

I turn toward Cole, who lowers his backpack and digs his water out.

He twists around and gives me his last bottle. “Here,” he says. “I have a bottle left. Just make sure Zeus gets some.” He wipes sweat from his face with a hand towel from the safe house and says, “All right, so let’s set up a perimeter for now. Once we rest, we’ll focus on finding supplies.”

“Roger that,” Bruno says, letting go of Grace.

I gulp the water down like it’s air, allowing it to dribble over my chin. I’m beyond caring about how I appear. I wipe my face with my forearm and hand it back.

Cole takes a sip, then gives Zeus the last bit to slobber over. When Zeus is done, Cole smashes the bottle between his hands and tosses it on the ground.

Grace seems disturbed. She’s looking around the small space as if she can’t imagine how this will work out.

“This place is as good as we’re gonna get,” Bruno says, a hand on her back.

“Meaning?” Grace asks.

“We’ve got something resembling shelter,” Cole says. He touches a flap of the hut and lets it slide between his fingers. “It’s a large area. The guards’ll have a harder time finding us.”

“But it’s contaminated with something,” I say. Cole scrunches up his face at me. “People don’t die in numbers like that unless someone’s either shooting at them or they’re sick with something … bad.” Cole tilts his head.

“Now there’s a pleasant thought,” Bruno says.

We all go silent. I don’t know if any of us thought things would be so bad here.

I feel like I’ve got the heebie-jeebies, and I itch all over. After I scratch my skin red, I remember the woman from earlier whose skin looked like she had scratched it to shreds.

I don’t have what she has.

“Cole!” I shoot up into a sitting position, clothes clinging to me like a latex glove while I tremble.

“Hey, I’m here, you’re safe.” He pulls me into his arms, securing me against his chest, and rocks me. “Deep breaths. Breathe.”

“You were gone, I couldn’t find you,” I say and try to steady my breaths as my lip quivers. “You left me … and I ran everywhere and you were just … gone.” My lungs gasp for air, and he places his hand over my heart.

“It was just a nightmare, Lexi,” he says with a voice so familiar, so strong, and so loving. He holds me tighter, but it’s not tight enough.

Finding his hand, I lace my fingers with his, kiss the top of his hand, and then press it against my clammy cheek. Perspiration has gathered above my lips, and I use my forearm to wipe it away. It might have been just a nightmare, but it felt so real. My chest aches, my heart pounds, and anxiety crushes me. I squeeze my eyes shut and allow Cole’s arms to comfort me.

“Promise me,” I say in a shaky voice. “Please … promise you’ll never leave me, because without you … ”

“Shhhh, stop.” I feel his heart beating against me. “Try to relax.”

“But in my nightmare, you left me because I’m a Sinner, and I am, and you’ll never be able to change that—”

“Lexi. I need you to listen to me for a minute. Can you do that?”

I nod.

“Good.” He gives me his crooked smile. “Guards are trained to suppress their feelings, show no remorse, and be intimidating. You do as you’re told. Nothing more. Nothing less. I watched as friends of mine were shot point-blank in the head. One of them for shedding a tear, another for carrying a Sinner to the hospital because she couldn’t walk, and another one because he handed his drink to a little girl who was dying of dehydration.” He clears his throat. I cringe. “If you show any sign of weakness, you’re executed. You have no idea what I went through to prove to the Commander that truly, my heart was made of stone. He used to call me ‘the rock.’ And I was a rock; I was full of hatred and angry all the time.” Cole pauses; a strange look crosses his face. “Even when I killed people, I felt nothing.” He lowers his head, and I think I see sadness and regret on his face.