Thicker than Blood (42 page)

“You sure I can’t change your mind?” he asked
coldly, his usual hard exterior firmly back in place.

“Where, E?” I demanded, ignoring his
question. “Where is the truck?”

In one swift movement, he’d grabbed hold of
the barrel of my gun, wrenching it to the side and bringing my arm
with it. Stepping forward, he pressed his chest against me and
lowered his head to mine. “What’s he have that I don’t?” he
growled. “What do you see in that little boy that I can’t give
you?”

I didn’t bother to struggle, already knowing
that fighting against his strength was futile. Instead, I glared up
at him. “He’s a good man,” I hissed softly.

“He’s nothing,” E hissed back. “He’s young,
stupid, doesn’t have the guts to do what it takes to get by in this
world.”

My laugh was soft, yet full of mocking. “He
does,” I said. “You know he does. You’re just jealous that he’s
better than you, better than you will ever be.”

As if I’d burned him, E dropped my arm and
immediately backed away. A muscle ticked in his jaw.

“South parking lot,” he gritted out. “Dark
blue Jeep. Keys are in the glove box. I give you anything better,
and it’ll be missed.”

“What about everything else?” I asked.
Keeping my eyes on him, I took a sideways step in the direction I’d
come.

Unblinking, his eyes met mine—cold, dark and
murderous. “I don’t ever go back on a promise. It’ll be there come
sunup.”

Answering him with only a single nod, I
turned to go.

“Wildcat?”

I paused, yet didn’t look back. “What?”

“How you gonna get through those gates? Past
the guards?”

Briefly closing my eyes, I silently cursed
myself before turning around to face him. He was right, I had no
idea how we were going to get past the armed guards and through the
gates, having planned on driving straight through them if it came
down to it. Turning, I found E looking rather smug.

“I could help with that. There’s another way
out of here…” He shrugged, though the gesture was more ominous than
any simple shrug could ever hope to be.

“What do you want?” I asked, already knowing
and dreading his answer.

Interlacing his fingers, he began
individually cracking his knuckles, the sharp sound stark against
the silent night, echoing off the wall behind me. “Everything comes
at a price, Wildcat. But you already knew that, didn’t you?”

He took a step forward, gesturing to the
space I’d just vacated. “Right here?” he said.

Leisel

What did they always say about best-laid plans?
That they often go astray? Yes, well, then
they
would have been correct.

This whole plan—from leaving
Fredericksville until right up to this moment—now seemed to have
been doomed from the very beginning, as if every step we’d taken
toward progress had simply been another step in the wrong
direction. And now the three of us sat here in our dilapidated
room, waiting for the minutes to tick by until we could either find
freedom once more, or be punished and kept against our will. Yet
again.

Our troubled journey so far all seemed to
be just a series of mistakes and unfortunate circumstances. Evelyn
and myself, Alex and Jami, had run off into the night, fleeing
Fredericksville with only the intention of leaving. And Jami had
died. A heartbreaking loss for poor Evelyn, something I knew she
still hadn’t given herself time to properly grieve over.

Then we’d stopped in Covey, a seemingly
destroyed and silent ghost town, in hopes of finding food, gas, and
shelter, only to end up kidnapped by religious zealots and nearly
made a meal out of. And more people had died.

And the man in the cabin, the one with the
little girl who’d been bitten. I’d tried to help her, tried to
comfort him, yet she’d died anyway, and in his grief the man had
disappeared, his fate unknown. But I could only presume that he was
dead now too.

And here, in Purgatory, a place we’d come to
in hopes of finding supplies, of finding a way to continue
surviving, only to find another version of Fredericksville, another
version of Covey, another version of that man in the cabin, losing
his daughter…and meeting with only more death.

It was just a continuous onslaught of death
lurking in wait at every corner. No matter what we did, we couldn’t
seem to run fast enough or far enough to escape it.

The pain, the suffering, the struggle, it was
never ending, much like the barrage of bullets I’d put into that
man the night before, like the number of times I’d driven that
blade into Lawrence’s body, like the amount of tears I’d shed.

We should have learned by now that nothing
was ever easy in this world. Yet, like children, we remained
forever hopeful, optimistic that just once something would go right
for us.

We were wrong. That was just the way of the
world now, and people like us, those who hadn’t let go of the old
ways, who couldn’t let go of the hope that eventually something had
to give and change for the better, we had no place here. We were
doomed much like the infected were, forever walking the earth,
trying to fulfill a need—a hope—that could not be fulfilled.
Because there was no good in this world now.

Our belongings were already gathered, our
weapons strapped to us, our clothing and food packed neatly in
backpacks procured from Grannie, everything ready and waiting for
us to flee. And so we waited, sitting silently in our darkened
room, just waiting for what was going to happen next.

With the rise of the sun had come a knock on
our door. We glanced at one another uneasily, the tension palpable.
None of us wanted to open the door, to be the one that let in the
crippling disappointment we already knew was waiting for us.

“It could be your friend?” I whispered to
Evelyn. “The one you said would meet us at the Jeep?”

Wide-eyed, Evelyn glanced toward the door,
her red and swollen nostrils flaring. “No,” she whispered back. “He
wouldn’t have come here.”

Another knock sounded, this one louder than
the last. Sighing, Alex pulled his gun from his pants and stepped
toward the door. With his hand on the knob, our eyes met, and in
them I saw all the things he couldn’t say, didn’t know how to
voice. He was sorry, sorry that he wasn’t the man he’d wanted to be
for me. Sorry that he hadn’t done more to protect me, to protect us
all.

I stared back at him, hoping that he could
read me as well as I was him. Hoping that he saw my gratitude, that
he could see how much I didn’t blame him, not for a single thing
that had gone wrong. Instead I wanted him to know how thankful I
was for him, for everything that he’d done, for the happiness he’d
given me by simply being himself.

He hadn’t just loved me, he’d freed me. He’d
given me back hope, trust, and pride in myself. He’d given me
everything that Lawrence had stripped from me in our poisoned
marriage. And I loved Alex for that. I loved him for reminding me
that not all men were bad, that there were still men like my
beloved Thomas alive.

I loved him for helping me to love again.

Alex seemed to understand this, the silent
message I was willing him to receive. It seemed to strengthen him,
to give him the courage to open the door and once again shoulder
whatever burden was handed to us.

As it turned out, it was only a boy, no more
than ten years old, with short, scruffy hair and innocent eyes. The
boy thrust a piece of paper toward Alex without saying a word, and
as soon as Alex grabbed it from him, he took off running down the
hall with barely a second glance. Alex unfolded the page, and as he
skimmed it quickly, his features pulled tight in annoyance.

“It’s for you,” he said, looking up at me,
both apology and anger written on his face. “You have to work
tonight.”

“Nobody’s working tonight,” Evelyn snapped.
She glanced from me to Alex. “We’re leaving. Are you both ready?”
Her look was almost daring us to disagree with her.

Whereas I nodded numbly in response, Alex
seemed skeptical. “Who is this guy, Eve? How can you be sure he’s
going to follow through?”

We’d been over this so many times already,
Alex repeatedly questioning Evelyn on who her secret friend was,
and Evelyn refusing to give any details. I had my suspicions,
mainly that she had traded herself for a vehicle and perhaps a way
out of here, but I hadn’t voiced them.

Whatever had happened had changed her, the
change was written all over her face. She barely kept eye contact,
moving away whenever I got too close. Her shame was evident, but I
didn’t want to press her on the matter. We’d all been through
enough, and there would be plenty of time to talk when we were free
of this place.
If
we got free
of this place.

“I can’t be sure,” Evelyn answered, sounding
exasperated, her expression softening somewhat. “But we’ll never
know if we don’t try, right?” She looked to me for support, knowing
that Alex believed that staying alive was the better option than
dying while escaping. Anything just to keep me safe.

So many times in the last few years, I’d
thought I was going to die, and it terrified me. But now, when I
thought about the possibility of being killed for trying to escape,
or worse, being forced to stay here and do the bidding of Jeffers
and Liv… Faced with the choice between those two options, I wanted
out and I
was
ready to die
trying. After all, there were far worse fates than death, most of
which we’d already lived through.

“We have to try,” I said to Alex firmly,
reaching out and laying my hand on his forearm. “We can’t stay
here. I won’t stay here.”

His eyes closed again briefly, pain washing
over his features before he reopened them and focused on me.
“Whatever happens, Lei,” he said, taking my hand. “It was worth
it.”

My heart swelled at his words; I
wholeheartedly agreed with him. It was worth it, wasn’t it? No
matter what happened, after years of misery, it had been worth
finding even an iota of happiness. It had been worth it to learn
there was someone else in the world, other than just Evelyn and me,
who hadn’t succumbed to the corruption and wickedness everyone else
had seemed to. Because the infection ran so much deeper than just
turning people into mindless cannibals. It destroyed people’s
souls.

“I always knew you were a big, fluffy
marshmallow, Alex,” Evelyn said, attempting to ease the tension.
“Big and strong on the outside, but all ooey-gooey in the middle.”
Her hand touched her stitches subconsciously as she forced a pained
smile.

Alex slanted his eyes toward Evelyn. “Are you
calling me fat?”

“Yes,” she replied, smirking. “Now, get
going, fatty.”

• • •

As was planned, so as not to cause any suspicions on
where the three of us were heading with all of our belongings in
tow, Alex left first. I was to be next, followed closely by Evelyn.
Each of us had our own separate route, but the same
destination.

“You know where to go?” Evelyn asked me for
what seemed like the hundredth time. “Remember, don’t go through
the market place, there’s too many eyes watching. Too many people
we can’t trust.”

Sighing, I nodded. Though I was anxious, I
was more determined than anything else. I was stronger than I had
been in years.

“Stop worrying about me,” I said. “I can do
this.” To further prove my point, I patted the weapons belt slung
low on my hips, heavy with both a handgun and a blade.

“I’ll always worry about you,” she said, her
bloodshot eyes glossing over. “Always, Lei.” She sounded so
defeated, and it hurt to see her so broken.

Biting down on my bottom lip so as not to
cry, I reached for her hand and shook my head. “It doesn’t matter
what happens. You made good on your promise to Thomas.”

“But I didn’t,” she whispered. “I didn’t do
nearly enough.”

“I’m still here, aren’t I?” I countered,
squeezing her hand. “I’m alive, Eve, and that’s about the best any
of us can ask for anymore.”

Her tears spilled over, and despite knowing I
had to get moving, I pulled her in for a quick hug, squeezing her
tightly to me. “You made me strong, Eve,” I whispered, pressing a
kiss to her cheek. “You made me want to keep going.”

Before my own tears could fall, I pulled out
of our hug and turned away, slipping quickly out the door and into
the hallway. While trying to keep from looking in a hurry, I kept
an agile, yet energetic pace, hoping I didn’t seem as anxious as I
felt. My bag was slung over my shoulder, some of the clothing that
Alex had gotten me and some food all thrown in haphazardly. The bag
was heavy, but I acted as if it weighed nothing, not wanting to
draw attention to it.

There were only a few people moving about in
the building this early in the morning, and those that were around
barely gave me a second look as they either entered or exited their
own apartments. The stairs were clear as I descended, as was the
exit, and then I was outside, making an immediate left, and headed
away from the marketplace.

“Leisel! Sweetheart!”

I stopped walking, closing my eyes, sucking
in a breath of calming air before turning around. Grannie was
hurrying down the pathway, her wide hips shaking back and forth as
she waved excitedly in my direction.

“I was hoping to find you before you went to
work tonight!” she said breathlessly, coming to a stop before me.
Reaching out, she placed her hand on my shoulder and took several
deep breaths. “The end of the world isn’t meant for old women. It’s
a wonder I’ve made it this long!”

I tried to smile at her to hide the spike in
my nerves, yet my eyes continued darting left and right as I hoped
that no one else of importance had spotted me.